The Countdown is ON!!!

It is done! I booked my flight to Kelowna for the end of summer to see Mare! YAY! (and hooray for seatsales!) I'm going to say the countdown is officially on for fun on the beach, at pirate themed restaurants, muchos wine, and hours and hours of talking! Jer better get his driving gloves ready as he will be the official chauffeur for those fantastic days in Penticton! 92 more sleeps!

a ponderism while home sick

I have yet to figure out how, when feeling my utter worst, and looking like I've been stuffed in the washing machine and pulled out after the spin cycle, a simple hug and compliment from Brad can repair my mood and make me feel beautiful again. I guess what I mean is, why is the only opinion that really matters (other than one's own of course) is the one of the person who means the most to you? Why is it that all the people in the world can tell a person they look lovely in that new sweater, but it doesn't really mean anything until the one you're in love with says it to you? Maybe it has something to do with knowing that person has seen you in your most vulnerable? Or maybe it's because the sentiment goes both ways? Well, whatever the reason, I'm greatful. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and snivle into some toilet-tissue and huddle in blankets while watching cheesy romantic comedies.

oh yeah...one more thing...

Ok, so maybe I forgot to mention that I caught the bouquet. I went up there not planning to really try for it, but that if it came my way I wouldn't ignore it. Well, it wasn't coming at me, and yet, somehow, through some sort of divine intervention, I noticed my hand shooting out and next thing I knew I had it. As my arm was going out I realized I would catch it. I went back to my table and saw Brad at the end of the hall so I waved it at him. The band was saying something to the effect of "She's waving atcha buddy!"...and so Brad ran. Yup. He caught my eye, saw me waving and booked 'er outta there! Luckily he was kidding...I think...hmmm...
(this is my "I'm sooo HAPPY!" pose)

The Wedding

Ben and Brenda were married yesterday afternoon in a beautiful little ceremony at a small church in Swift Current. Kim and I sat in the front trying our damnest not to cry. (unsucessfully obviously!) After the ceremony, we went for photos at a local studio and then had supper at the Palliser Pavillion. It was a wonderful supper and the decorations were completely beautiful.

Brad and I at supper. Cleans up real nice, huh?
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Nick and Kim
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Cutting the cake
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The couple's first dance, surrounded by a ring of the children in Brenda's daycare. (Once again, Kim and I got all misty eyed...we're such saps!)
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Maureen was invoted personally by Ben to the dance
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Nick dancing with his little cousin Lacey
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Landon made a friend of little Abbey who really took a shine to him and fell asleep on his lap late in the evening. Quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen! (especially since he didn't know her until that night)
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Brad and I enjoying a slow song performed by the band, Bakersville. They put on a great show!
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El Great Big Moose-oh

Something I've been meaning to blog since Tuesday is the giant moose in Moose Jaw. Now, I'm most definately a fan of the "world's biggest"s and I suppose being in Moose Jaw a giant moose just makes sense...but it still seems maybe just a little cheesy. Especially when driving into town and on a road sign advertising Tim Hortons the directions say "5 min away. Turn right at the Moose". I mean, those are pretty good directions since it's hard to miss a massive moose...but still. As I was driving though, I kept wondering if I had missed the turn for Tim Hortons. I had never seen the moose before and was wondering just how big this moose is. I always sort of assumed it was a lifesized moose, seeing as moose are rather large to begin with. Then I saw it and felt rather silly for thinking it would be merely "average sized". So, for fear of seeming overly touristy (which was already a risk due to my BC license plates), I just pulled around the parking lot of the moose and took a picture from my car. I would have balanced the camera ontop of my car and done a timer-pose, but alas, there is a chainlink fence (not proportionate to the moose, I might add) around the moose, preventing tourists and vadals from getting near him. (side note: I understand it used to be anatomically correct but the "correct bits" were removed due to constant vandalism...Let's just say I have mixed feelings about that)

(Also, I'm not sure what's wrong with the ankles on the moose...maybe they're getting painted)

And Old Friend

My old friend Maureen has come to visit me in grand ole Swift Current this week on her way home to Smithers for a summer of working. It's great to see her again. We didn't see much of each other for a couple of years; she had moved to Montreal and I was going to school in Burnaby, and somehow we rarely managed to return to Smithers at the same time. Funny how that happens as you get older. Then last summer while I was living in PG she would make trips to visit frequently on her days off from camp. We sort of re-forged the friendship...not to say that it had suffered at all, but it was good to sit down and talk again.

This particular visit was supposed to start at 8:20 on Tuesday night when her flight was scheduled to arrive in Regina. I drove out to pick her up and upon my arrival at the airport I discovered the flight was delayed until 9:51 (!). So I bought some tea and pulled out my new book and settled down for the wait. She then got in just a little earlier than was expected, but still fairly late, so rather than make the 2.5 hour drive back to Swift, we grabbed a hotel room and went for beers. We both had a terrible sleep in the hotel, and left early Wednesday morning. After I showered (something I didn't do at the hotel since I didn't have any of my toiletries with me), we grabbed some lunch and drove down to Saskatchewan Landing where I was told there's a nice beach.

The beach was nice soft sand and really gorgeous! That is, until the wind picked up and we couldn't talk without getting a mouthful of sand. So we picked up our towels and left again.At home we made many desserts and made supper. Then went to my friend Ashley's place for the finale of America's Next Top Model (my guilty pleasure in the realm of reality tv...I'm so weak!).

I had to work Thursday and today, so she's on her own, which kind of sucks. We went out for frozen yogurt after supper last night, and then went shopping. And this morning we went for a lovely breakfast at Smitty's (hee hee...I said Smitty's was lovely!) The food was good, and company even better!

(This picture is almost the same as a picture we took three years ago at Midsummer in Smithers...when I compared the two this morning I was totally amazed at how young we looked back in 2004...)

I wanna be a Foreman...er...Forewoman!

Jon, Darwin and I went for a tour of the under-construction Civic Centre this morning. I realized that I most definately am not capable of being in construction as I can't for the life of me picture the finished product while something is still being built. However, that being said, I most definately CAN be in construction if all I have to do is wear a hard-hat and yell at people!

A Disturbing Trend.

I've noticed a terrible trend during my mornings covering court lately. There seems to be a ridiculous number of people who think it's alright to get behind the wheel after a night of drinking. In any given week there are around 7 residents of the Southwest area who have are fined and have their license revoked for a year for driving impaired.
Personally, I find this utterly disgusting. How a person can feel they have the right to drive and endanger other people's lives is beyond me. Recently a 25 year old was sentenced to 2.5 years in jail for driving drunk and slamming into another vehicle stopped at a red light. The vehicle was pushed under a semi and a mother of two was killed. The drivers blood alcohol level readings were 190 and 210. Honestly. That's not just a little drunk, that's what we would call drunk as f*ck.
Today another guy pled guilty to impaired driving and dangerous driving. He blew 200 and 210! Seriously. No one was hurt, but he was running stoplights and driving all over the road. I can only imagine what would have happened if someone had been on the road at that time. I can't help but wonder hat would happen if I were on the roads then?
I hereby warn everyone I know: If I see someone getting into their car when I know they've been drinking, I will call the police. I don't mean A beer, and obviously I will try to convince the person not to drive first, but if someone I know has had many drinks I will call the police. I will give them the license plate number and say the person has been drinking. If you're not drunk enough to blow a 08 that's fine, but I won't take the chance and have someone killed because I didn't call.

My Knee is Kbroken

Clearly my knee is broken. Ok, so maybe not broken, but severely injured...ok, so "severely" is maybe a little dramatic too. Let's just say it hurts like hell. I was crawling back into bed last night (during the "tossing-turning" episode) after a quick trip to the bathroom and managed to slam it into the edge of the bedside table. It wasn't a direct-on-top hit though, it was more on the upper edge of the knee cap. Now today it hurts to walk and bend and sit and stand and anything else knees are useful for. Boo.

(for the record, I don't know what the picture is all about...it just came up when I googled "knee" and kind of freaked me out, so I thought I'd include it)

Mostly just stuff...

I've been busy. Seriously. It's strange to go from having virtually no social life to still having no life but being busy with that lack.

Yesterday was an especially good day. As a Friday at work, the focus was simply on getting through the day and getting home. But luckily the day didn't drag too terribly.

I got a new windshield for my car (*cough*$330!*cough*cough*), but the sting on my pocketbook was lessenned by a substantially larger tax return than expected.

I also received the order I had placed from Victoria's Secret...a pirate-esqu bikini and zippered hoodie! I'd been waiting anxiously for the package to arrive for a couple of weeks now, and to actually receive it was a delightful surprise.

Yet another pleasant surprise in the mail yesterday was a postcard from Maureen! It was sent from Greece. It still makes me giggle when I get postcards from my friends travelling overseas because it seems the mail never arrives before the person returns to Canada. For instance, Maureen came home to Canada earlier this week. But it totally brightenned my day.

Speaking of delightful surprises in the mail (this seems to be my lucky week for mail!), I also received a package from Mare with a CD featuring albums from Lilly Allen and the Wreckers. Definately looking forward to ripping it to my iPod for the drive to Regina on Tuesday! OOh, she also included Passion tea, which is my FAVORITE herbal tea, and one I haven't been able to find anywhere for a long time! (after opening the package, I promptly boiled the kettle and enjoyed a cup).

On the not so wonderfully positive side, sometime around the start of the week my eye began to get all itchy and red looking and finally on thursday I decided to bite the bullet and go to the doctor and get it checked out. Apparently there is quite the shortage of doctors taking patients in Swift! It's ridiculous. I ended up getting an appointment with a woman who seemed to be Russian and was relatively difficult to understand. (when she said "eyedrops" it sounded much more like "eardrops") Beyond the speach barrier, she was kind of bitchy, and not dressed particularly professionally to boot, so I don't think I'll be going back to her. Oh, but it turns out apparently I have conjunctivitis...AGAIN. Seriously! Who gets pink eye TWICE!?

Last night was a surprise Bridal Shower for Brenda, (Brad's Dad's Fiance). It was a lot of fun actually. Brad's uber-conservative grandmother gave Brenda a black lacy thong! She said she did it because no one would expect it from her! When I told Brad he busted up...and then was still laughing a hour later. It was a really cute party, and so sweet to think how everyone has come out to help celebrate the wedding with everyone. It made me a little sad and very envious to see it. Wedding season is most definately in full effect at this point and while I try to be irritated by it and hate the concept, every now and again the true sappy romantic part of me cracks through the hard shell and makes me (dare I say it?) yearn for that myself. Oh well...only 5 more months of wedding season (prolonged this year due to an October wedding...pretty sure the only reason it's set for October is to draw out the agony of wedding season just a little bit more...ugh...I mean YAY!)

I was an idiot at the party though and had a cup of coffee without thinking about it and thus, when I went home I couldn't for the life of me sleep. I tossed and turned until 1:30. Seriously. Which wouldn't be a big deal, but I had to work this morning. At 4:30. Yup. Three hours sleep? Awsome. I'm pretty bagged, and have resigned myself to the fact I will be having a nap this afternoon.

A Million Dollars

The million dollar coin has been released from the canadian mint. That's right. A million dollars. I know the mint said in february they were planning to create it. So it's been made. The thing weighs 100 kilos, or roughly 220 pounds. That's where the irony comes into play: 220 pounds of gold bullion is valued at around 2 million dollars. Yup, the math is correct. The Canadian mint got jyped making a useless gigantic coin. Way to go Canada! How's the child poverty thing going? Who cares! We have a giant coin!
(By the way, if you look really close, it looks like there are a bunch of 9's. I suspect it's actually a $999,999 coin...maybe the last dollar went to taxes?)

This is me.

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Roomate of Justice!

Yesterday after a somewhat boring day at work, I rushed home to talk with Mare. She still holds the title of Favorite Roomate. Honestly, how could you NOT love living with someone who demands that it is, in fact, their turn to do the dishes? Not to mention the countless hours talking and watching friends...and the cheesecake and mousse cups! I'm so glad we've been able to stay in touch as well as we have, and that we can have a short hour long conversation for the simple fact that we stay in touch so well we don't have to cover a week's worth of events in a conversation! But I also love that we can have four hour conversations and only hang up because our phones are dying.

Yes, there is a swift current in Swift Current

My mum asked me the other day about the river in Swift, and I had to tell her it's more of a creek. According to the map though, it looks fairly big; definately more like a river. So Brad and I set out to take pictures of the creek to let her decide. Here are a few choice shots:

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Ability Bowl

Saturday I took part in the Ability Bowl...a fundraiser for the Abilities Council of Saskatchewan which helps the special needs people in the province. So the radio team was Darwin, Twila, Darla and myself. Here are the pictures: Darla bowling between Darwin's legs (as Darwin protects himself)
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I couldn't say for sure what Dar was doing...

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Bowling between my legs backwards (one of my three strikes of the day)
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Team CKSW - we dressed up as radio DJ's. ha!

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There were many beer consumed during the day and the jury is out whether beer makes me a better bowler or not. But it was the most fun I've had bowling in a long time anyway!