Football Sunday

Today I'm meeting Bill at the Strandherd station at 1:00pm. We'll be walking over to Boston Pizza to watch the Fins-Bills game. He's a Buffalo fan and I'm a Miami fan so it should be a good time. I haven't been to BP for a while so I'm looking forward to having a Space Freeze drink!

I may also start watching Lost after the game. I hope it's good - I could use an interesting series to get into!

GO FINS GO!

LJ

Then again...maybe not

Well, I had a good time last night. I met the guy at Baseline, we took the bus downtown and walked over to the pub. His roomate's parents were there. I guess he's really close with them because I got questioned and stared at quite a bit haha - not a problem though. We had a nice time - did a lot of chatting. After the show was over we talked more at the bar and then decided to leave. He asked where else I wanted to go and I suggested we pop over to Heart and Crown (also in the market) to see Ty and Dana who were playing that night. Unfortunately all we were able to do was wave through the window because it was too late to go in. He suggested we do something else but, because he didn't have any ideas and he seems ultra tired, I thought it would be best if we took the bus home. We both got off at baseline and caught a cab which went to his place and then mine. He was super cute, very nice, paid for the drinks and cab, and was very thoughtful. But, I don't really think we will be going on a 2nd date. Maybe, if we did, chemistry would grow...who knows. Anyway, I'm glad I went and I suppose that, like my mother likes to say, it was another "practice date" or "practice guy".

I'm actually thinking about taking back the idea I got the other day. While I am motivated to meet someone new and while I'm in a good place and open to a relationship, I think that focussing on myself right now would be a great idea. I had told myself I really wanted to get back into the gym and I haven't given it the best effort. I think I might just be waiting for Jennifer to get her membership (starts December 1st). I think I might adopt the new "whatever happens happens" kind of attitide while I work on meeting my goals.

Today I also went to the dentist to get my nightguard and to get my free whitening. It turns out that it's a do-it-yourself kit. It's not what I was expecting but it's quite neat - custom trays and everything. I guess I just expected to do a one-time whitening session at the dentist. This might be better though because I can use the 14 days worth or less and, down the road, I can buy a refill from the dentist's office for a pretty good price.

I also talked to my best friend Tina on the phone today. She moved to St John's in April and I've missed her like crazy ever since. My annual two-week visit in Newfoundland in July was nice - but I want to go back sooner than 7 months from now. I might try to go a little earlier to catch the icebergs in April/May/June. If flights aren't too expensive I might make it a long weekend and then go again for a couple of weeks when it gets warmer in July/August.

Tonight is Michelle's birthday night. I'm going to Heart & Crown on Preston for the dinner part but might take off after than to get home by bus and get some rest.

In the meantime, I think I'm going to take a little nap. I didn't get home until after 3am and I had to be at the dentist this morning so I'm feeling a little sleepy.

Talk to you soon,

LJ

Almost Time

So, I'm a little bit nervous. I've taken a bit of a break from the dating scene so the one I'm about to go on is my first in a couple of months. I'm just waiting until it's time to leave for the bus. I'll be meeting this guy at the Baseline station and then we'll head downtown together. I always like hearing live music (especially when it's new to me) so, even if the date doesn't go well, at least there'll be some interesting music to listen to :)

Wish me luck!

LJ

It's a Small World Afterall

Well, it's been another busy week. Tomorrow is Friday - thankfully! I've been talking to the newest guy quite a bit this week. Texting over BBM during the day and chatting on the phone almost every night for a couple of hours. I'm seeing him tomorrow to see his friend and roomate play a show at a bar in the market.

Funny story: it turns out I already know his roomate! His roomate is a friend of a friend and I've met him a few times at parties/pubs. It also turns out we have a bunch of other mutual friends. The world doesn't seem so big when you find out things like this!

I'm going to try to get some sleep now. I have a busy day at the office tomorrow and I'd like to at least look refreshed for my date tomorrow night.

Sweet dreams,

LJ

4 Ws in a R

Four wins in a row for the Senators which puts the team back on top of the Northeast division. Excellent news!

In other news, I've been talking to a new interesting guy. We had a long chat on the phone tonight and will be going out on Friday night. I'm looking forward to it!

Otherwise, I don't have many updates for you today. It'll be another busy week at work trying to get a French presentation ready for Friday (just to send out - I don't have to speak to it). I'm now waiting patiently but eagerly to hear about the new job possibility. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I had dinner at my parent's place last night and brought home some delicious left overs including chicken and some veggies and dip - awesome!

Well, now that I'm off the phone and feeling pretty giddy, I'm going to get to bed.

Night night,

LJ

Newly Motivated

I've been watching a cheesy quirky show on the Slice channel. It's by a "TV Presenter" from London. She's 37, single and looking for love. She decided to take 10 weeks out of her normal life to focus on dating and possible finding a man she'd like to marry. It's a pretty entertaining show and some of the experts are quite insightful.

I can't exactly take 10 weeks off work but Sally has inspired me to start dating again. I haven't been doing that much of it because I've been busy with work and focused on finding a new job. So, we'll see what this new motivation can do for me. Things are going quite well so I'm in a pretty good frame of mind and ready to meet some new guys.

Sam's groomer took the weekend off so I wasn't able to bring him in to get his nails clipped so the lucky guy will have another few days with long, sharp claws. I did some grocery shopping with my Mom instead and I'll be relaxing for the rest of the night. I could have gone to a party in the east end with a friend. But, I didn't really like the idea of going to a house full of strangers tonight and having a 90 minute bus ride and then either cabbing or walking the rest of the way home.

I wish that I had those Lost episodes so that I could start watching it from the beginning. Maybe I will start next week.

That's about it for today.

Cheers,

LJ

TGI Eff

Wow - that was quite the day! The conference was quite stressful but I survived! I'm quite exhausted so I don't really have that much to say. I plan to relax this weekend and get some rest. My mom and I were going to take Sam (my cat) to get his nails clipped tonight (he hates getting it done so I get a professional's assistance) but we decided yesterday that, because Friday would be such a crazy day, we'd go tomorrow.

Anyway, I don't think I'll be awake for too much longer tonight.

I hope you all survived the week!

LJ

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

It's been an incredibly busy week at the office! I'm preparing for a big conference that my department is hosting tomorrow. I'm pretty nervous about it because I will be making a presentation to try to sway a very difficult audience. Anyway, it was a another late night at work but afterwards I got a ride home from a colleague and we grabbed a quick dinner together.

The Sens are having a great week - a win against Toronto on Tuesday and another one against Pittsburgh tonight...impressive!

I'm also having a good week regardless of how stressed I am about the big conference tomorrow. I had a meeting on Wednesday with a Director from another department about the possibility of going to work for her. Our meeting went very well! It sounds like a really interesting place and a great fit for the new challenge that I am looking for. I believe that she also things I will be a great fit since she said she'd like to hire me. This is now pending my reference check, a sample of my writing, and her DG's approval. So fingers crossed! I was pretty nervous about asking my supervisor to be a reference but he agreed. Tomorrow I will be called a couple of former supervisors who I'm sure will have no problem helping me out.

I am very much looking forward to the weekend. I usually look forward to Fridays because the day is a little more relaxed, I can wear jeans, and the weekend is approaching. However, I will be wearing a dress and pearls tomorrow. This week really has been all about getting to the weekend. It's almost here! In the mean time, I'm going to check a few messages and then try to get some sleep!

Night night,

LJ

Quick check-in

I know I've been neglecting my blog lately. I'm just popping in to say that I haven't disappeared and that I should be able to post an update tomorrow. Just a little preview: weekend update, strange sunday nightmare, and upcoming events this week. Hehe

Night night...sweet dreams,

LJ
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

TGI Friday

Even though this week was broken up into two sections, I have found these last couple of days to be very long. I think my body's internal clock is a bit confused after being off on the 11th. Tuesday was like a Friday and Wednesday like a Sunday - that left me wondering if it was Tuesday or Friday today. Luckily the weekend is just a few hours away!

Yesterday was a relatively quiet day at the office. The flu is still being passed around the floor so many people were off sick. Because I wasn't constantly being interrupted, it was much easier to get through what I needed to do. I ended up leaving the office late (around 5:00pm) and I headed to the bus to get home. The bus was pretty empty and I had a lovely snooze. The rest of my evening was pretty low-key. I watch the Sens-Philly game which, unfortunately, did not go well at all for Ottawa. I also watched Survivor. I wasn't convinced that I'd enjoy this season but I actually found myself cheering at the TV when Russell found his second immunity idol (both were found without a single clue...and this latest one was found without having been told that another idol was in play). He is definitely my favourite Survivor this season and possibly the most entertaining Survivor yet!

Keeping up with my plan to be more committed to my objectives lately, I updated my CV today and sent it along with a cover letter to someone I will be meeting with next week. There may be a new opportunity for me with another department. Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck!

So, plans for the weekend...I actually don't really have any. It's kind of a nice change. My friends Mark and Michelle are having a party at their place. But, their house is pretty far off the transitway and, since I'm with out a car, it might be a little difficult for me to get home. The buses stop pretty early so I end up having to either walk home from Fallowfield Station (takes about 75 minutes) or hope that I can catch a cab home from Fallowfield. I'm not a big fan of taking the bus home with all of the drunk children and I really hate paying for a cab when I've already paid for my express monthly bus pass. Anyway, instead of the 4 hours of busing, I might just take the night off and stay home. Biggie hasn't been feeling well so it might be a good idea to stick around for him just in case he needs to head to the vet.

If I do stay home, I might try to start watching Lost. A friend of mine has recently started to watch it from the beginning and she's really enjoying it. She's almost finished 3 of the 5 seasons. Also, one of the guys at work is insisting that I start to watch. In fact, he'd like me to have all 5 seasons finished by January 20th when the 6th season starts. If I can get really into it, I might just be able to. But, there seems to be so much TV these days that it's really hard to keep up with everything that's on...plus work...plus maintain at least a little bit of a social life.

I also believe that I'll be getting together with my Mom this weekend. Her and a friend bought some passes to see some special show homes. I think they're out right now looking at some of the properties but, since her friend has to work this weekend, I'll be taking over the 2nd pass and looking at some of the homes. It sounds pretty interesting. There's nothing like a showhome to inspire your own redecorating.

Anyway, it's after 4:30 and I'm usually out of here by 4 so I'm going to wrap this up for now.

TGIF!

LJ

Lest We Forget

Well, for the first time in quite a long time, we had nice weather for Remembrance day. I was thinking about heading downtown to see the ceremony at the War Memorial but getting downtown and back to the west end isn't all that easy on Nov 11th and the crowds were even bigger this year since Prince Charles and Camilla were in town for the ceremony. I ended up sleeping in and waking up on time to watch CBC's broadcast. It was a nice tribute to our veterans and current military forces.

I find myself thinking about my Grampa on this day. He fought with the Canadian Forces Infantry in WWII on Juno Beach. He passed away 6 years ago just before his 100th birthday. I very proud of what he managed to accomplish and how he served all of us in Canada. Love you and miss you, Grampa!

I also spent some time with my Mom today. She came over to hang out with me and "the boys" (my two cats Sam and Biggie). We played some Rock Band and then went to do some grocery shopping. I forgot how good the samples are at Costco! hehehe

Now that I'm home and the groceries are way - it's time to relax and watch some TV. Wednesday is probably my favourite TV night. Thankfully I have a PVR (personal video recorder...aka digital video recorder) otherwise I don't think I would be able to watch all of the shows I like! I think I'm most excited about Glee and Modern Family. They're both quite funny (especially Modern Family) and I love all the singing and dancing in Glee. Yeah, I'm a geek at heart. haha

Anyway, I don't have much else to report. Tonight activities include having a bath, making my lunch for work tomorrow and maybe doing a bit of reading before I get to bed (hopefully early).

I hope everyone had a good Remembrance Day (or Veteran's Day for anyone south of the border) in whatever way you chose to commemorate.

Until tomorrow,

LJ

New Header

I figured that putting up a custom header might entice me to keep this blog up-to-date. This picture of me was taken in July 2009 in Newfoundland. I was there for 2 weeks to visit with some friends (mainly my best friend of 25 years) and this was how we chose to celebrate our first night together.

As of October 21st it's been a year since I made the switch from blonde to red and I'm still loving it.

night night...sweet dreams

LJ

Day One - Third Time's the Charm

Hello!

Well, here is my first post. I've tried to start a blog a couple of times before and I haven't managed to stick with either of them. They say that the third time's the charm so I figure that I'll be more consistent with this one. ;)

Anyway, today was a pretty good day - tomorrow is a holiday for Remembrance Day so I suppose tonight is technically like a Friday. The Senators and Oilers had a game in Ottawa tonight so I decided to stay in to watch it. The Sens won in a shootout! Awesome!

I also caught part of a show that's been on for a while that has always seems really silly to me. It's called "The Biggest Loser" and the whole point is to be the person to lose the most weight. The person who loses the lowest percentage goes home each week. I actually found the show pretty interesting today and also quite inspiring. I've been trying for a couple of years to kick the extra weight I've been carrying around. I joined Goodlife Gym about 2 years ago and more often than not, I've been going to the gym fairly often. I started off with an "introductory trainer" who helped me out with the weight machines for about a month. I was seeing Derek 3 mornings each week and I was also heading to the gym after work during the week for cardio classes. I was feeling amazing!

Once my sessions with Derek were over, I managed to keep going to the gym for classes. However, when I moved to out to the Southwest end of the city (from downtown), I let my workouts slide. About 6 months later I decided to hire a trainer, Lindsay, at the Goodlife near my house. This was a great idea! I saw her 3 times/week for strength training and ended up losing a fair amount of fat but more importantly I learned some very healthy habits. I was able to run 20 minutes without stopping (a big accomplishment for me) and I also managed to climb a mountain for a week! An injury on the climb once again my training slipped.

My sessions with Lindsay came to an end and I've been slacking off with my training. I often bring my gym clothes to work with me so that I can head directly to the gym after work. But, I find myself actually making it to the gym much less than I'd like to - sometimes even carrying my gym clothes back home and perfectly clean.

I've been feeling more inspired lately and even more so after watching The Biggest Loser show. A friend I met on a course for work lives close to me and will be joining my gym on December 1st. I am very excited to have a gym buddy! But, it's only November 10th so I can't wait another 20 days to start getting back on track. I have a skipping rope that I'm planning to use at home and I'm also planning on getting back on track with going to the gym. The funny thing is that I love the gym - I just find it difficult to get myself there. I'm hoping that, like with this blog, this new start will be more successful. So, wish me luck - third time's the charm, right?

LJ