I love Project Runway. When it first came on I worked with my good buddy R. and we used to dissect it every week at work. Even though we don't work together anymore, we still email about it every week when it's on. But we've never watched it together!
On Saturday I went into Vancouver and we finally watched it together. R. taped the last four episodes and we watched them all at once. We had chocolate, tea, snacks, chocolate....it was The. Best.
On my way home I took transit to get to the ferry. As I was sitting on the first Skytrain I started to look around and realized how many people were clamoring around. Everywhere.
Then I remembered what my bestie said when she moved away from Vancouver in March*. "There are too many people with too many intentions. I have to get outta here." At the time I didn't understand what she meant but now I do: everyone is climbing all over each other to get around, to get by, everyone is going in different directions all at once.
After these totally foreign (to me) thoughts started going through my head I started to freak out a little bit. You guys know how I feel about Vancouver....
I wanted to distract myself so I decided to put my ipod on. It was on full blast and I. couldn't. hear. it. I realized that my 'full blast' in Victoria is a lot different than my 'full blast' used to be in Vancouver. I used to be part of that crowd, blend in, flow with it. Now I feel like I stick out, like I don't belong.
I freaked out some more.
Then I realized that I can't imagine commuting to work like this anymore. I like my short walk to work where I listen to La Boheme and think about going to the opera in Rome**. I like the little 5000 square foot office I work at. I like my 12 workmates, rather than the 150 workmates I had in Vancouver. I like the slow pace of Victoria.
All of this is now okay with me.
The next thought that quickly flashed through my mind.....so brief I wasn't even sure I had it:
"I don't think I want to live in Vancouver anymore."
Gasp!
Then this image:
I started to get super emotional. Then I realized that I couldn't wait to get back home to Victoria.
Saturday April 9, 2011 - I finally had my breakthrough about Vancouver. It only took 2 1/2 years.
*more on this later, I have some catching up to do
** yes, I do this every morning
I have TMJ. In other words, I clench my jaw.....or something.....when I sleep. I think?
Anyway, I've had it for a long time and massage therapy does wonders but I haven't been keeping up with it. So when it's bad (like now) I can't open my mouth very wide at all. Which means no giant sandwiches with that extra piece of bread in the middle, no giant hamburgers, no jawbreakers - you get it.
So today I had to pick up three engineers and take them to a job site. I hadn't met these guys before and I was kinda nervous. Everything was fine of course - they were really nice guys.
After we were done on site, we decided to grab a quick lunch - sushi right across the street! Yay!
While browsing the menu, I thought "Okay the yam rolls are sometimes really big so no yam....the salmon rolls though - those are always small and manageable. Yup, salmon roll it is."
What are the chances that this restaurant of all places serves giant salmon maki?!I've never seen such giant salmon rolls.
A few weeks ago I saw this gorgeous Treasury on Etsy. It's all maps! 
The first thing I did was call Brad because I knew he would appreciate it. (If you don't know, he loves maps - LOVES. He draws maps for a living too.) That pillow on the bottom row caught his eye so we browsed the shop together over the phone and found a Vancouver Island pillow.
It was like the opera, we had to get it!
I was getting my hair cut by this great stylist and I was super happy with what he did for me. But he's not a talker and since I am always in the chair for an hour it made me uncomfortable. So last week I decided to try out another stylist...
You know when you get your hair cut and they style it for you after? You always walk out feeling amazing. They always use a straight iron on my hair - every time. So as usual I walked out feeling pretty good. And the thing is - I didn't think I had anything too crazy done.*
Then I washed my hair.
Seriously - when I saw my hair the first thing I thought of was this girl from an old Law and Order episode. This is almost what my hair looks like now, just a little longer.
This morning I realized with horror that it's naturally 'feathering' in the front - 80's style. When I got to work my workmate said "Your hair! It's....retro!" Then I saw him later and he called me Farrah.
Damn that straight iron! I'm never letting a stylist use one on me again. Now should I go crawling back to the other guy??
*She drastically thinned my hair out all over. She even cut me a new cow lick.
Brad hates cell phones. He held out on getting one as long as he could, and he only got one because someone gave him a phone for free. Here is his phone, it has to be at least 10 years old now. It doesn't vibrate and the ringer is mostly gone so he never hears it ring. He never answers it, and it's been an issue in the past.
Well, tonight was the final straw.
Brad had plans to go to a local hockey game (remember this post???) and I was invited but...yeah I passed. I would much rather spend Saturday night at home with Ziggy, a book, popcorn and a good movie.
So, this afternoon we were out having coffee when Brad realized he had lost track of time. It's a long story but I ended up having to go to the hockey game with them because of this cell phone issue. If he had just had his phone with him everything would have worked out!
At least this time we didn't have the awful woman behind us yelling "C'mon boys let's get hungry."
Remember this post?
Recently my girlfriend gave me a gift - my favourite lip gloss from Mary Kay. (Thanks R!!) It came straight from Mary Kay - R. didn't pack it. Check it out.
That's the lip gloss on the right.
Then today Brad ordered a flag online* and here is how it was sent.
Really?!
What is wrong with these companies and their packaging?! Just another reason to order everything off Etsy.
*Long story.
The earthquake in Japan. It's so awful .....and it's my greatest fear given where we live.
We have had an earthquake kit for about five years now. Probably due to me freaking out and being scared to death of earthquakes all the time. Give me a tornado any day over earthquakes - at least you can see it coming.
We put our kit together ourselves and it's pretty awesome. Every year around this time (my birthday) we go through it and switch out all the food and check the expiry dates on everything else. When we first made the kit we just bought cheap stuff for food - canned peas (blech), lots of canned beans (for protein).....then we realized we should actually buy stuff that we like.
So now we get Chunky soups, tuna and salmon, canned fruit, granola bars and a couple Snickers bars. Because (hopefully) at this time each year the idea is to swap everything out and actually eat it.
Some other stuff we have in there - rope, toilet paper, a good knife, wind-up flashlights and radio, matches, first aid kit....the list goes on. We also have a stash of ziggy's food and lots and lots of water.
The first year we put our kit together, the water leaked. We keep our kit in the closet in the bedroom so that sucked. Now we buy water bottles with thicker plastic, it costs more but it's worth it.
You guys should all put a kit together. Do it. Even if you don't live out here....you never know.
It's time for another book review!
1. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt
Yaawwn. It's an interesting concept - a bunch of crazy characters in an interesting town with lots of history. But the author awkwardly put way too much history into it, not enough interesting story. (FYI - A book that meshed lots of history and a good story was A Walk in the Wood by Bill Bryson.) Near the end I was just waiting for this one to be over.
2. Everlost - Neal Shusterman
Young adult fiction - and a damn good read too! I don't read much young adult so I take cues from Claire. An interesting page-turner which unique concepts. It kept me interested right until the end. I'd totally recommend this for an awesome beach read.
3. But Inside I'm Screaming - Elizabeth Flock
Holy crap did this book suck. I couldn't even get through a quarter of it before I realized I was wasting my time. It was like reading a crappy imitation of The Bell Jar. The character was totally boring and annoying. A couple days that I could have spent reading......
4. The Cemetary of Secrets - David Hewson
Another recommendation from my boss. This book was interesting because the mystery paralleled itself in current day Venice and Venice 300 years ago. I loved that! The city of Venice also played a huge part in the book which was just what I was looking for. (Beware of more fiction based in Italy in my future reads.)
5. The Five People you meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
I love cozy, snuggly reads like this when they are well done and Albom always delivers. Honestly, I haven't even finished this book and I love it. A must-read for when you are in the mood for a book that puts everything nicely in perspective.
I have some awesome reads coming up including the one I'm reading right now which is the best book I've read all year.
So I'm taking another course. Remember my Spanish class? Well, this one is different. It's work related. The content is...let's say a little more dry. It's through Construction Specifications Canada, the course is called Principles of Construction Documentation.
Basically the course description is an overview of how construction documents are put together, the relationships between contractor, architect, client etc. It sounded perfect for me because I'm always so involved on the drawing side of things, I don't fully understand how everything works as a whole.
Are you still awake?
This is coinciding with the first spec book I'm putting together at work for a project. Unfortunately I'm starting off with a spec that was put together by a guy who was known for super sloppy work. Needless to say, specs have been on my mind the last couple weeks.
I've been listening to La Boheme for days now, all my reading is based in either Florence, Rome or Venice, I've been reading art books, our Italy travel book......so the combination is interesting.
The other night I dreamt that I had to put together a spec book for this painting:
I woke up about 10 times that night in a sweat.
I was always the one who said "I'm a book girl. I can't imagine curling up with a 'device' for a night of reading. Nuh-uh.'
At first I looked at the Kindle, I was a little uncomfy with the whole 'Amazon Only' thing but I could deal. After further research, I realized that all of the titles aren't actually available in Canada so I'm not getting a true picture of how many books are actually available.
It's the perfect size - it's SO thin and light. I'm in love with it. The best thing so far is that I can lie sideways in bed under lots of covers and prop it up on a pillow and read with no hands. This has always been a secret fantasy of mine - to develop some way to be the ultimate slug while still reading. 
