Living in a Scrapbooker's Paradise

With the completion of the spare room downstairs, I was able to overtake the previous spare room and turn it fully into a scrapbooking room (ok, computer room too, but in all fairness, I do use the computer for scrapbooking sometimes). This is my new room! It's fine, you can be jealous. ;)

Project Spare Room: Success!

Today Brad finished up our spare room downstairs and we moved the bed and other furniture down into it! We now have a functioning, dedicated spare room for our guests! It's come a long way...(in case you don't remember what it looked like, here is the blog entry from January when we started the demolition).

Here is our finished product:

(please note, the bottom right framed picture is a piece of the wall paper we ripped down...you can't just throw that stuff away! Tribute must be paid!)

Has it really been a year?

A year ago today Brad and I officially became husband and wife. It's hard to believe a full year has passed! It's been the best year of my life and I know we're both looking forward to years and years to come, knowing that we can face whatever comes our way.

Happy Anniversary, love!

Things I saw at Street Dance

The Swift Current Kinsmen and Kinettes put on an even each year in August called Street Dance. They cordon off a full block downtown, set up a stage, drink booths, and a tented area with tables and welcome the people of Swift Current to drink their faces off and generally be very silly. Brad and I went last night. I had finally gotten over a grinding headache and was more or less stone cold sober. This state of non-drunkenness gave me the opportunity to observe.

At 2010 Swift Current Street Dance I saw:
A man in red long johns
This particular guy was trying to climb up on the shoulders of many girls. I watched him try to balance and inevitably fall from the shoulders of at least three girls and one guy for about 20 minutes.

A man wearing a green and while bobsled uniform with a fanny pack
This guy is actually a friend of a friend. I don't feel like admitting that I know him.

A woman who was likely in her late 60's stumbling around drunkenly
I watched as this woman stumbled around and went up to a number of young guys to talk to them before stumbling away with who I can only assume was her husband (also reasonably drunk). Brad thinks she was easily in her 70s, but I'm putting 60s on the basis that if she has gone her whole life going as hard as she did last night, she may look much older than she actually is.

A man in a wedding dress
I don't really know what to say in particular about this man...he was wearing a wedding dress...it was funny.

A woman in her wedding dress (followed by the whole wedding party)
This group of people made me very sad. I can't figure out why you would go to Street Dance after your wedding. If you really have nothing else to do, go home. Furthermore, if you really truly MUST go to street dance, regardless of having just tied the knot, go home and CHANGE out of your wedding dress!! I specifically wore jeans and a t-shirt because they are easy to wash and I knew I was guaranteed to come home covered in spilt liquor and beer.

And quote of the night goes to Brad. As we were making our way out of the street dance area, we passed by a giant BBQ that was selling hot dogs and hamburgers. (Pure genius, actually). Brad had a double cheeseburger and I had a hot dog. I ate about half on the walk home and gave the other half to Brad. He, being slightly intoxicated, finished my hot dog and said "I wish life were like a video game and you could run around and find hot dogs in bushes and stuff". I laughed so hard I nearly fell off the sidewalk.

Colouring my thumb with a green marker

When we were in Smithers I found myself admiring my Mum's houseplants. I have not been known for having a green thumb. I always assumed this particular gene had skipped a generation with me as Mum (who has a very green thumb) has occassionally had to rescue the unlucky plants that came into my possession over the years. I have recently had three relatively successful years of flowers in the garden, though each year I plant these knowing I can always blame the Weather if they don't do well. My admiration for the greenery at my parent's place struck me and I resolved to buy some houseplants when I returned to Swift Current.

Yesterday I went to Walmart and bought three plants and fancy heavy pots (harder for Ollie to knock over). I repotted them when I got home and have crossed my fingers that they will not become yet another cautionary tale for plants entering my home.

Not quite what I had in mind...

I had heard there was a Victoria's Secret store opening in Edmonton this summer, so I thought perhaps their website might offer Canadian shipping, so I thought I'd take a peek. I typed in http://www.victoriassecret.ca/ in hopes that the .ca portion would lead me to a Canadian version of the site. Apparently not. This is what opened:

I hope someone in their marketing department got a raise over this one.

Other Smithers Photos

Our arrival on Sunday afternoon. We drove to Prince George on Saturday which made for a quick final leg on Sunday.
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Me getting my birthday prezzies! MUCH scrapbooking wares! How did she know??
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Me and my buddy, chillin out one evening
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Mum enjoying the dogs and proving that it is in fact, Books that tame the savage beasts.
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Enjoying my kobo in the sun
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Brad golfing at the Smithers Golf Course
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Preparing for my last drive on the 18th hole
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Me, completely amazed at the sweet drive I just did on the 18th hole
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Brad and I hiked up to Twin Falls, which is a totally fantastic view and a really short hike.
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Brad went right up to the falls and was totally soaked
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The other falls at Twin Falls...always gets ignored because it's not as easy to get to
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My Brother's Wedding in Photos

Frank and Christi got married in Smithers on July 31st, and it was pretty much the perfect day! The weather was gorgeous and hot, the ladies looked lovely, the men were handsome, and they said their vows with maybe just one or two little tears (I was just about sobbing). I'm so delighted for them!

(I threw this one in of me and Christi's bridesmaid Nicola who I totally hit it off with! Birds of a feather and all that!)

Happy Birthday to Me...Again!

Apparently 28 was my Pink Birthday :) Pink Snuggie is courtesy of Mare, and pink cheesecake (raspberry jello) is courtesy of Brad, my creative husband.

The Garage Sale

This weekend we hosted a garage sale to get rid of stuff. I'm all in favor of a cleanse every now and again and getting rid of things that you just don't need/want anymore, but what I can't fathom is how two 27 year olds without children have been able to collect so much STUFF.

Regardless, we put an ad in the paper (for $11) and set up Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday morning. All in all, I would say it was a success. We sold about a third of what we put out and made $192.63, which as my Grandpa would say is "better than a poke in the eye". The only other garage sale I've been involved in was the one we held in Surrey before moving to Smithers in 1994...so it was a bit of a new experience for me, but I think we did fairly well. It feels good to have gotten rid of all that stuff and feel a little less bogged down.

Garage Saling has always been somewhat perplexing for me. I've known friends and relatives who are enthusiastic (to say the least) about garage saling. I've been woken up at 6am by friends who are determined to get there first and get the "really good stuff!" I have a hard time wrapping my head around it...why would I want to go to someone's home, rummage through the stuff that they don't want anymore and give them money to haul away their junk? Granted there are circumstances where it is beneficial; I have heard parents saying that garage sales are the best places to get near-new items for babies because a family that has just one or two kids might be selling a stroller, or crib or highchair that would otherwise cost a couple of hundred dollars...and occasionally you can find a good second hand book or old movie...but really? Most of the things I've seen at garage sales are just junk, and usually dirty junk and I am opposed to paying someone to cart off their junk for them. Maybe my lack of enthusiasm prevents me from making it to the "really good" garage sales and finding those amazing treasures...maybe not.

...that being said, if you want to pay me to cart off my junk, please feel free! I'll even negotiate the price! And of course, MY garage sale was not filled with junk...true treasures and good stuff only.

Well, you don't see that ever day...

Brad and I went to Brett's place last night to watch UFC 116. While we were watching the first fight he got a call from Broden, his son, who was on his way to the movies to say that there was a cab in the creek just down the street from Brett's place. Clearly, we jumped up and went to see.
There were a number of stories going around. The first was that it had been stolen and ended up in the creek, then, as we stood around, the real story came out. Apparently the cabbie had been delivering pizza to a house across from the creek and accidentally left the car in gear. After making the delivery he turned and saw that his cab was no longer there and ran back to the house saying it had been stolen...which I guess is what you would automatically assume if your cab was not where you left it.

The whole gamut of emergency crews were called in and divers to check for anyone in the car. When the divers came up I heard them say "it's not much fun getting in, but once you are, it's a TON of fun!".

Where's Tom Sawyer when you need him?

Brad and I decided to be productive and check something off our list of home renos/imrpovements this weekend. We painted the fence between us and the neighbours. (Too bad it wasn't soundproof paint). On Sunday we laid down landscaping fabric and poured some gravel between the deck and the fence to finish it off and stop the incessent weeds from returning.

Tell me that doesn't lookl ike the sort of place you'd like to sit down and have a beer!

Hello, Kobo!

Brad, best husband ever, bought me a Kobo for an early birthday prezzie! He gave it to me when he came back from UFC in Vancouver. I was totally delighted and so excited to get started (I had already purchased a couple of books online in anticipation). So I plugged the little marvelous ereader devise into my computer to charge it as the instructions told me to do. But the little red light that indicates a charge never came on. This was distressing and I read a number of reviews online. I started to become even more distressed with the truobleshooting reveiws I read saying it was certainly not responding as it should. I emailed the Kobo customer service team and received a response within two hours "It sounds like you have a glitchy devise. If it has been less than 14 days since you bought it, please return it to the store where you purchased it". Brad bought it in Vancouver...I can't imagine I'll be able to zip on down to Metrotown to exchange my little ereader, so I contacted Coles in town and they called Regina's Chapters on my behalf and arranged to have a unit set aside for me as I was going to be heading to the city anyway. So, with a new Kobo in hand (and a new orange coloured case which I also purchased in Regina at Chapters), I must say I am still delighted! Even having experienced a "glitchy" unit, I'm still impressed and happy with my ereader. I've heard people complain about them, saying it doesn't have a text-to-speech function, and it doesn't have a backlit screen...well, to those people I say "neither do books. It's not a computer, it's a book". I Love it! Happy early Birthday to me!!

Happy Birfday!!

Yup, that about sums it up! Happy Birthday, love!

FINALLY

Sunday was such a beautiful day that Brad and I were actually able to put plants in our garden! We went camping on Friday and Saturday and upon our return to town we went to the greenhouse, picked up some bedding plants and spent the afternoon in the sun (being eaten by mosquitos).

The middle marigold is the little one I grew from seed!
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Our front flower bed. The teeny tiny plants in the front row (spaced every two or three) are the pansies I tried growing from seeds. Frankly, it will be a miracle if they make it!
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The Big Bike

Last Wednesday was the Big Bike Ride for the Heart and Stroke foundation. The Regional Office went up against the Hospital team in a fundraising battle. The losing team had to wear "ugly hats" that had been made to mortify people on their birthdays. The Regional Office Taj Mahaulers lost. We raised just over 1500 and the hospital was closer to 2500...though in all fairness they have a MUCH bigger building and staff compliment. Regardless, we wore the hats.

Janet (brought a helmet of her own), Me, Shari, Carolynn, Norma
I just don't see how this is a punishment. :)

Afterwards most of us donated our hats to the Big Bike...so teams everywhere may enjoy them.