Gone is the beautiful blue skies, swaying palm trees and the warm breeze. The sun on your face...

*sigh*

Florida was absolutely awesome! There are many things to tell and tons of pics/videos to share but alas I have not summoned up the energy to do so. All weekend I was in denial that my vacation was over but monday morning at work was a slap back into reality.

It was a trip I'll never forget and long to do again! Maybe not Walt Disney World again but definitely back to the sunny state!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On another note, I'm super excited about having my own car! The novelty has definitely not worn off yet! There is so much more freedom to my everyday life and is making an impact on how quickly I can actually get errands done now. (Oh and how much more do my sisters love me? Right Cyn? Ha, ha. That's right, the only reason I bought the car was that I needed to be loved more :P)

Farewell GRT, you were good to me and will always be my backup.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hopefully tonight I will get some pics uploaded to Flickr and upload some vids to Youtube so I can share 'em. And after a while I'll be gett'n more pics from the friends I went with so keep checking back!

This time tomorrow I'll be in the beautiful state of Florida! :)

So I'll be think'n of all you loyal readers in the next week while I'm running around in Walt Disney World :P

(Oh, and I love my car!)

So much to be happy for right now!! :) *insert enormous grin*

1. a CAR! Only 2 more sleeps until the keys are dropped into my hands

2. Cynthia's fundraiser dinner on Saturday! Please come support her upcoming missions trip to Tanzania. (www.cynthiagoestoafrica.blogspot.com)

3. My trip to FLORIDA with some good friends of mine! Last year we went to NYC, this year - we're gonna big - Walt Disney World here I come!

4. Fitting into clothes I couldn't 2 years ago.

5. All the BEAUtiful snow!

6. No work for a week

7. Tons of "firsts": plane, florida, Disney, car

8. New role as Elder at church

9. Maybe a tan in February? That would be another "first"

10. TAKING A VACATION in tropical weather while it's -20 zillion degrees here

I hope that my life stays so exciting....

Called the Toyota dealership - because my paperwork isn't all filed yet and I need a co-signer - I won't be seeing my car until Saturday! :( That means I'll only get to drive it for 2 days before I head off to Florida for a week.

I sad but excited 'cause I want to drive it now! :) Ha, ha. I'll try to stay patient, try.

*Update!* Pics are now of the real car! (taken by the dealership and on their website )


Today marks a milestone in my life!

I. Bought. a. CAR!

2003 Toyota Echo

I can hardly believe it and I think I will forget many times when I wake up in the morning since taking the bus has been engraved in my mind since forever. Seriously I need to pinch myself.

Here is the beaut!






























Apparently the previous owner's were an older couple so the car is in mint condition with only 55,000 clicks on it. I even got a "recent grad" discount for finishing school in the past 4 years - insane eh?

I still can't believe I own a car. Wheels. No more buses. Groceries.

This is gonna be so sweet! :)

This is what happens when you give a big beefy tattooed man a needle:





















Ha ha, just kidding. I've wanted to get my upper ear pierced for years and finally got it done on Friday nite. Mind you it's a tad more painful/more of a hassle then I expected but I like it :)

Right now I am baking for the first time since sometime last spring. It's kinda nuts because I've forgotten how much I love to bake! Finding a new recipe, changing some things up to add a bit of kick, beat'n the eggs like mad, throwing a dash of this and that and the smell! Oh the smell of baking is like a comfort for me. It's like a warm blanket of happiness.

Why I stopped baking for so long? I have no idea but I've got the taste of baking back and I like it!

I can't wait 'til sister walks into the apartment door and is greeted by the sweet aroma of baking apples and cinnamon.

This is the best bread ever:














Focaccia Bread preferably Rosemary.

There is just something about taking a bite of fresh bread and that tastes so good!

Thank you Ace Bakery! :)
(Available at many local groceries stores including ValuMart and Zehrs)

Useless fact:
The sandwich commemorates the Earl of Sandwich, a famous gambler whose logic was that a slice of meat between two slices of bread could be eaten without having to leave the gaming table for a meal.

Rangers hockey games are awesome! Especially when you get fab seats.....prime ticket holder seats without paying for them :P (I'm talking front row seats at ice level!) I've forgotten how much I love watching hockey live.

I miss Saturday nite DNHL games.

I really hate that I'm getting sick, again. I think I had about a 2 week break without any illnesses - what a record! *roll eyes* Seriously annoyed I am getting. Especially since I'm finally getting back into the grove of this new job and my new program at the gym.

The last couple weekends have been busy but awesome, work is excessively busy (which there seems to be no end in sight), and there are so many things I would like to do but lack the time to do them unless I don't want any down time.

And the only thing I can think about is how many days until I'm going to the sunny state of Florida.

This is seriously awesome. I found this pic in a book a coworker had called Cookies Sensations.



















Anyone else grow up playing with the Fisher Price farm set? Remember when the barn door opened it 'mooed'? Or filling the silo with some sorta feed? (we used rice krispies). Oh goodness this brings back memories...

I really should be in bed right now - personal training at 6am tomorrow. Ack. Why do i torture myself so?

Anyways, I did some updating with my blog! Check out my Twitter badge - it's pretty sweet, it has now replaced my MeeboMe 'cause I really don't have time to chat with ppl on there anymore. Also I'm again listing all books read and all movies seen during the year. (I'm in a reading competition so it'll be interesting to see how last year compares to this year - so far I'm slacking!)

Eventually I would like to revamp my blog...anyone have suggestions to improve my page? I love the colour scheme but...

Ah, good times!














Friday nite was out with a bunch of peeps to celebrate Heather's bday. I have never danced that much in one night...ever.
(And the Corral is so much more fun then the Ranch any day :)

Went to a movie tonite and now I can't stop thinking about it. It was insanely depressing and intense for the entire length of the film, seriously there wasn't a part you could just breath and be like "good, everything will work out and they are safe". No such luck. Thus I give you "Children of Men".

I can't imagine a world that dark, dirty and desperate. Women no longer able to bear children, countries controlled by militia, "fugies" taken to camps to be tortured or killed, polution so thick the sun hardly gets thru, grimmy streets filled with homeless people...a world without hope.

Interesting things my friend Dee and I picked up was that animals could still reproduce, apparently human cloning wasn't happening and that nature was still fine. The grass was still green, lots of vegetation, bails of hay....except there was a lot of dead cattle around (of which I don't quite get). So in some ways the movie wasn't that "realistic" but sadly some ideas are definitely close to what could be in our future.

I really dont' know what take from this movie, I really don't.

I found a sparrow lying on the ground.
Her life I knew would soon be at an end.
I knelt before her as she made a sound
And listened as she said, “My friend…”

“Take these wings and learn to fly
To the highest mountain in the sky.
Take these eyes and learn to see
All the things so dear to me.

Take this song and learn to sing.
Fill your voice with all the joys of spring.
Take this heart and set it free!
Let it fly……….. beyond the sea!”

I found a another sparrow on the sand.
A tiny bird whose life had just begun.
I picked him up and held him in my hand.
I smiled at him and said, “My son…”

“Take these wings and learn to fly
To the highest mountain in the sky.
Take these eyes and learn to see
All the things so dear to me.

Take this song and learn to sing.
Fill your voice with all the joys of spring.
Take this heart and set it free!
Let it fly……….. beyond the sea!”

Such a sweet yet sorrowful song. For some bizarre reason this song popped into my head this morning. It's a little weird since it's a song I have not sung since grade 6 or 7....but it was always my fav. Now that I think of it I may even still have the sheet music for it...hmmmm.

Ugh, I am not impressed. My personal trainer said I'd feel the pain of my workout the next day...but how about the day after that? I still can't walk properly and I'm getting quite annoyed. It's like I pulled a charlie horse a couple times over. If I sit for more than 5 minutes my calf cramps right back up and I can hardly walk. And I'm supposed to work out tonite and every nite this week but how can I do anything if I can't stand? Hmmm.

Yah, not happy about "phase three" in my personal training.

'Body for Life' you say? Yah, but please don't kill me in the process.

Ever feel so overwhelmed with everything you do nothing instead?

That's me right now.

I'm getting frustrated because today I started a new program/phase at the gym that I'm not sure if i can committ to but I need to go to the gym to get back the energy I need to get everything else in my life in order. All I want is to get everything organized so I can feel more relaxed about life. Then add the element of a new job in there and some church things going on....

My life "balance" is just sitting a tad crooked momentarily.

:(

I've been memed by Brad's Book Buzz.

The instructions:

Grab the book closest to you
Open to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence
Post the text of next 3 sentences on your blog
Name of the book and the author
Tag three people

Here’s mine:
"Still a dozen empty study tables surrounded by bookshelves packed with books. Above the tables, two stories high, several thick wood beams for ceiling support. A railing ran the perimeter of the second floor. No sign of a killer."

(so I cheated an added an extra line but who can blame me? That'd be one terribly boring paragraph)

Skin- Ted Dekker

Tagged:
Whoever reads this blog and feels like doing something semi fun. :)

I am beginning to hate mondays. Last monday I spent all day sick. This monday I come to work and right off the bat I was oh so nicely reminded that I already screwed up with a task I was supposed to do weeks ago.

UGH.

There are some things about this new job that I am loathing - lack of understanding. I have no flipping clue what I all need to get done on a regular basis! The only training I had was on the huge projects I do, not everyday duties and timeline of other tasks. I want to do this job well but I still can't wrap my head around what I prioritize and what comes next.

So yes, my head is still spinning and I really wish I had some guidance right about now.

...so much to blog about!

i've got a million and a half entries saved as drafts, I have a zillion things I want to blog about, i want to rework my page a bit, i want to review the past year of things related to my blog, i need to have deeper thoughts for my contemplations blog, i have oodles of blogs I want to read

...so many things to do!

like getting back to the gym on a regular basis (stupid flu screwed that all up!), do some HDR photo shots, a reading competition to at least start (other competitor has already read 500+ pages in a week!), a scrapbook to do after 1.5yr hiatus, shopping for a bridesmaid dress, reorganize my disasterous room, planning SAYWHAT events, start my new diet, go shopping for new dress clothes, calculate how many books/pages I've read this year

...so much to think about!

life, work (and all that fun stuff involved like reorganizing 4 years worth of files, streamlining current processes, and learning some new programs....why did I not pay more attention in Access class?!?), time management, friends, upcoming wedding, vacations (so want to go camping again), buying a bike, church stuff, family relations, how much I love contacts and have forgotten!, how much I need a haircut, i'm bored but i have tons of things i want to do, facebook is way to addictive, i'd kill to spend a week on a beach front property doing whatever I wanted, how much I love writing but don't think I could be cut out to be an actual writer, the weekend is over, my eyes are dry and I should put on my glasses

...so I'll leave it all for another day for tomorrow is another day.