Fun Fun Fun!

It's been a busy few weeks, but with so many fun things going on, it's been a good kind of buys.

Frank and Christ came to visit last weekend, which was such a blast! I had Friday off, so we spent three days hanging out together. Not nearly enough, but I'll take what I can get!
I took them for the Swift Current tour on Friday, showing them the sights and shops downtown. We ordered pizza and played Wii games all night.
Saturday Frank helped me to get Scoots all tuned up for the spring (SWEET!!!), and took it for a spin around the block.
We went for supper at the Akropol on Saturday night (thank Mum and Da for the treat!)

And on Sunday we headed to the Saskatchewan Landing so they could see the beach I like to visit in the summer. Ollie went for an unexpected swim in the river when he decided to leap in, so we relaxed on the grass for a while to let him dry off. (Frank may have fallen asleep)

Alright...Da, your turn to come stay at Chez Jess and Brad!! Consider yourself officially called out!

Happy Birthday Mum!

While many poeple are thinking about the work and "going green" on Earth Day, my mind is on something way more important...
Today is my Mum's birthday!!!I know I've posted this picture before, but I can't get enough of it! I credit my Mum with my silliness, and my affinity for creating silly songs and singing them to myself (or to others),. She's the source of some of the best advice I've ever been given ("You can't change the way others treat you, but you can change the way you react to them"). Knowing she's always behind me means the world to me. We've shared so many fun times, and thousands of wonderful pots of tea!
Happy Birthday Mum!

20 Years in the Making!

It took us twenty years, but Vassy and I managed to realize our dream of going to a New Kids on the Block concert! The show was last night in Saskatoon and we managed to wrangle floor seats at the 35th row! I was so thrilled to get the chance and even though we were a ways back, it all ended up totally worth in!

After a few fantastic songs, complete with retro dances to their well known old songs (ie The Right Stuff), the guys ran around the outside of the floor area to the sound board where a piano was uncovered on a rotating stage. The crowd around the stage (Vassy and I included) screamed and reached to touch them. Wrapped up in the excitement of the crowd, I may have screamed "I LOVE YOU DONNIE!!!" with my hand outstretched trying desperately to make my arm grown that extra foot to touch one of their hands. No luck though. But I did manage to get some fantastic shots!

I think the best part of their set from the floor was Joey's gold jacket. AMAZING! Haha!!

Before they come out for their final encore, Vash and I started a chant of "STEP BY STEP!!" to which the entire crowd joined in. The boys (men?) obliged! For the finale of Hangin Tough each guy was wearing a personalized Team Canada hockey jersey. Cheesy? Absolutely! But tell me, what about a boy band doing a comeback tour 15 years after their breakup isn't cheesy?!

AMAZING.

Hard At Work, Clearly!

On Thursday, the Department Heads packed into the station cruisers and went for a drive. Our field trip started at the Swift Current Hutterite Colony. I'd never been to a colony before, and it was definitely educational to say the least. Dave and his sister Matilda (seen below to my right) gave us the tour which started in the building where they butcher the chickens. That was a smell that I will never forget, get used to, or likely get out of my hair. We saw the kitchen and dining rooms, a Hutterian home, the machine shop, many cows, many many geese and ducks, and some peacocks (for fun and show, not food).

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After our tour, we piled into the cruisers again and headed North West to White Bear to visit their famous hotel restaurant. I'm pretty sure that the tourism for the restaurant is the only thing keeping that hamlet viable. We each had a hamburger which was roughly the size of a dinner plate and I believe only one person finished it (I'm looking at you, Ryan!). After our food, the owners came out and chatted and showed us many inappropriate novelty items which delighted and entertained us for a while. One such item was the deer on the wall which comes with a microphone and moves it's mouth when someone speaks into it. Terribly amusing!

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Right before our trip back to Swift, we stopped at the White Bear in White Bear and took some pictures in front.

Oh how I love a hard day's work!!

Grown Up Living Room

This may not be the most exciting post to many people, but I'm damn thrilled about it! Having two jobs has been hideously exhausting for me at times, not to mention time consuming and social-life-inhibiting, but it's also allowed me to have a little extra spending money. So recently I began spending a little of it. I bought a new coffee table, a storage cube, and some curtains and accessories for the living room (see the IKEA part of the Calgary post).
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Brad and I put up the curtains in the livingroom.

- Ollie helped -

- Ollie helped me iron -

-So here's the final product. New table, storage cube, curtains, throw pillows...everything!! -

-And at night with the new paper lamp too-

I like having nice things. The living room finally feels like an adult lives there! Very happy!

Calgary!!

I made a trip to Calgary this past weekend to man a booth at a career fair on Sunday. Yes, it does make for a long week of work, but the perks FAR outweighed the resulting tiredness.
First and foremost, I stayed at the Hyatt. I first had an inkling that I was outclassed by this hotel when the bellhop (yes, there was a bellhop), asked if I wanted to park myself or have valet take care of it. I opted to park myself. Then the elevator went to the 15th floor so fast my ears popped. Then I entered my room.

-In case you're wondering, yes, it's a king-

-The view from my 15th floor room-

I left my things on the floor so as not to contaminate the pristine richness of the room, and met my friend Leah outside. We worked at the Twin in Smithers back in 2004 bartending and drinking frequently. We enjoyed playing little games with the drunkards and convincing them that no only were we twins, but we were lesbians too! Imagine the luck! We haven't seen each other in four years, so it was fantastic to finally meet up with her again. If that wasn't fun enough, we went to IKEA!! OMG!!First we tried to get food. I got confused and had just asked "what do I do?!" when I looked up...
Then we shopped. And shopped. And shopped. Leah had wanted tealights and napkins and left with pillows, pillow cases, cutting boards, tealights, and napkins. I wanted curtains. I left with curtains, curtain rods, pillows, pillow cases, sheets, paper lamps, a laundry hamper, cutting boards, and scrub brushes. Whoops!We went back to Leah's apartment where I met her fiance Warren who is an awesome guy. Seems to be pretty much unflappable. We chatted until supper and caught up with each other's lives and talked about other people we knew from Smithers and what everyone is doing.The career fair was good on Sunday, and then I hit the roads to come home. It was one hell of a weekend, but really enjoyable all around!

Mind Over Matter?

What a morning!!!
Asad Mecci, a hypnotist came in to the Eagle morning show, so Chance solicited Dono and myself to be experimented on. We both agreed to be hypnotized and then went on the air. I've uploaded the whole bit (it's 9 minutes, so make sure you've got time).
Listen here
It was such a bizarre experience! Dono was out basically immediately but I held on to my senses stubbornly for a while. The whole time I was very aware of what was going on and what was happening, but it felt like the natural thing to do was to go along with everything. I definitely felt more relaxed than I have in a looong time.
When he brought us out of the trance he told us we'd feel energized and better than we've felt in a long time. I feel wired, but also a little hazy. That's starting to fade, but I'm still pumped.