Squigzella.com

January – Brought in the New Year at Chris and Dale’s place. Joined by friends, it was low key and fun. We celebrated Marilyn’s  7th birthday at Boston Pizza. She had a blast with her “big friends”.

February – I turned 31. We had a birthday party for me, where I had a pretty cool “Edward” cake and some really nice prezzies from friends. It was in February that we also saw one of our dear friends Carter off to Japan for go knows how long, and Greg and Robert share their birthday as well. Robert turning the big ONE! We celebrated at Pizza Hut. We also found out in late January  early February that Dale and Juls would be parents, meaning I was going to be an Auntie in 2009! Well auntie to family by choice, not by blood. Either way, equally as cool.

March – In March we ventured to Toronto, by train. It was the longest train ride in the history of man! Jared, Chris, Hil and I had an adventure. Chris marked his territory at every GTA landmark with vomit, due to a bout of food poisoning. We reconnected with some old and dear friends. It was a great time. Chris and I were introduced to Tattoo Black Rum by Jody… and drinking hasn’t been the same since.

April – In April, we went to Halifax for Hil’s birthday and visited with Jared, Vicki and Sylas. It was a great weekend with great friends.

May – Jenn, Tara and I decided on a cross border adventure. We went to Bangor for a shopping weekend. We spent a fair bit of cash, and had some great laughs and great food. It was more amusing how many people we ran into that we knew from home. Ruby Tuesday’s Girls… Ruby Tuesdays… We also can’t forget that Mike and Cole became parents to a handsome little man, Alex!

June – Summer came…and well, I don’t recall one overly eventful thing in June.

July – I’m sure something happened in July too but it isn’t imprinted in my memory at all. Work was crazy busy which made summer fly by!

August – The scoobs went camping in Wickham. We endured the rain on Saturday until we couldn’t take it any longer and then made a night of it at Greg and Chris’s place. We followed it up with one of our famous big breakfasts…somehow Jared managed to get out of cooking it. Hrmmm…

September – Impossible Realities, Bill and Jody visited. It was great to see them and to show them our little corner of the world. We introduced Bill to Suwanna, and Jody and Bill introduced us to sneaky guys who pay the bill for a party of 10! Mark my words we will get you back on that grand a scale at some point guys! Danika Nicole Duffield was born. Dale and Juls became parents to an adorable little girl and I became and Auntie!

October – My great Aunt passed on, and my best friend got married. It was a busy month. Many months leading up to this were spent doing wedding prep. It came, and was beautiful. After making what felt like a million cupcakes, I survived and I think the tier looked great! My boss dropped a bombshell that he was leaving us at the beginning of October. I took on a lot of new responsibilities at my job and introduced a whole new level of stress.

November – We had a November? Dale started working with me, spiced up my days a bit. Started working on things for Christmas and thinking about Trois Riviere in March. Oh and of course Tara, Chris and I went to see New Moon when it came out. How could Chris miss out on Jacob? We also celebrated Dale and Juls birthday in one go with some bowling and a get together.

December – Well here we are. Christmas came and went rather quickly. As we get older, it always happens this way. It’s New Years eve…makes me struggle to remember where I was this day 10 years ago. I can’t quite recall. May this new year be filled with great friends and wonderful memories.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Tonight I decided to go into my basement and dig through the boxes that my life was packed into a year ago. I thought well, if I haven’t really needed what’s in those boxes in a year, do I need them at all? Well of course some things I will need. Such as Linens, bedding, dishes etc. But in my rifling through old clothes that are far too big for me to my delight I found my wooden spoons. You have no idea how much I missed the simplest of things… a well seasoned wooden spoon. I was very happy to discover it, and now will enjoy cooking again. Laugh if you will but my wooden spoon was good for sauces, and baking and well everything!

Outside of that I did find my scrapbooking supplies as well which reminds me once again I need to print off new photos and get back to that hobby, which I have always enjoyed but never really had a lot of money to sink into it. I think I am going to take some money out of my next pay and get some photos done and go from there.

Back to the event planner notion. I have some ideas, and a few things I want to be really good at before I venture into the world of special occasion planning. But it’s in my bonnet and growing. Kind of exciting to be creative about something again. Feels like it’s been awhile.

It has also been awhile since I’ve been back at Weight Watchers… I’m bad. I want to lose the weight but my head just isn’t there, I want it to be there. I think I might just suck it up, go back and vow to not quit. I have a goal in mind, I’ve been successful before, I’m not sure why all of the sudden I have self doubt. Just need to get back on the horse. We’ll see if I’m there on Saturday….

Until then, stay frosty.

PS  How many sleeps boys?

So I’ve been thinking alot lately about what I want to do outside of my career. I’ve been thinking about hobbies, and things I enjoy. I enjoy planning events. The more I help with Tara’s wedding, the more I really think that being an event planner is truly something I would enjoy. So if this is something I want to pursue, where to I start? It would have a relatively low start up cost, I could spread by FB and word of mouth and see how I fare. It’s something to think about, I mean truly. What is going to give me fulfillment outside of my 8 to 5 world. This could be something huge for me if I tackle it in the right way.

I think I need to ponder on it more, but it’s never too late to do what you want.

It’s Sunday. Another weekend has passed. I am just doing a bit of cooking and making my meal plan for the week. Tara and I start Boot Camp tomorrow night at the AC, and then we start our running schedule of Tuesday and Friday evenings. I’m looking forward to it. I got my healthy groceries and I’m ready to start my journey to losing 40lbs on my own. I have my tools in place, so as long as I maintain my drive and focus we are doing good. I will do my best to journal it. My reason for doing this is simple, I simply cannot afford to put out money for Weight Watchers and the Gym. I need both. I have the tools that two years at Weight Watchers have given me, now I am going employ them and do the gym. I’m going to miss my friends there but hopefully they will keep in touch.

This week at work is likely to be busy the first few days. My boss was away and while he was most of his clients called me. It left me very little time to focus on my tasks, so this week will be filled with me playing catch up after his vacation. How ironic is that? Oh well, I am thankful I have a job to go to everyday, and it is one that even though it may have drama, I love.

I am thinking a bit about next year, and what I want to do with my vacation time. I really would like to go away, to somewhere I’ve never been. I’d also like to catch a Dave concert and/or a Bruins game. I’ll have to put some more thought into it as the summer progresses.

On to game topic, I have the plot kit for Requiem…It works well with what we are doing with the game’s restart after three years of “The long Silence” as Chris Wilson calls it.

I think the players will enjoy it. I think I am going to enjoy running it for them.

I’m debating closing down my twitter, I’m finding it interesting 10% of the time…it was cool at first when the whole world wasn’t on it, now it’s just a huge media outlet.

Alright, I am off to continue my Sunday. Where ever you are, I hope yours is sunny and warm.

Easter Sunday. First Easter in a long time the friends haven’t gotten together for a bunch or a BBQ. I realized that today. But next weekend will be busy with Tara’s Red and Black Bday Bash on Saturday night and Mike and Cole’s Baby Shower on Sunday. Summer is just around the corner and schedules start to get busy.

This time of year is always exceptionally difficult on me. A few years ago I had some personal issues that were very hard on me. During that time I also lost one of my close friends. So between the first of April and the end of May it is an uphill battle to keep my shiny disposition. That being said it has also been very hard for me to stay focused on my fitness and weight loss goals, because I want to eat based on emotions. *sigh* It’s hard. However on the positive note, I have one friend near by and one who is far away I have been able to talk to about most of these issues and really found that I have the inner strength to get through.

Really I need to focus on the fact that my experiences in life have made me stronger and primed me to better handle whatever else might come my way. In saying that I need to acknowledge that it isn’t always easy, but the experience I’ve had have shaped me into who I am now, but I should not let them govern how I continue to live my life. Hardships have been endured and survived. I’m still here.

That’s something.

by Marty Casey

Disintegrate the pearly gates, I need to see you
I’m coming through.
Decide my fate on a later date.
Nothing’s gonna stop me from saving you.
Bullet holes in my soul.
I’m here getting wasted
Bullet holes in my soul
Maybe we could make it. Well I don’t know.
I don’t know.
Why does he have the strength to devastate and murder the beauty he creates.
I’m gonna bring you back if it’s the last thing I ever do.
I’m gonna bring you back to me I swear to God, I swear to god.
I swear.
Bullet holes in my soul.
I’m here getting wasted… wasted… wasted.
Bullet holes in my soul.
Maybe we can make it, well I don’t know.
Now we’re taking over
I wanna to die for you.
Now we’re taking over
Now we’re taking over
Now we’re taking over.
I wanna die for you.

I took some photos at Caine and I have some friends who aren’t on FB to see them so I thought I’d post them here.

View Full Album

This is the first time using the album feature in Live Writer so I hope it works properly. I thought I’d also take a chance to post old photos from Caines of the past. I only have access to the ones from Freddy. The others are on a disk some where.

View Full Album

Enjoy!

So the weekend was a blast. It was awesome to see old friends, and make some new ones. I had spoke to Jody early last week and said going to Toronto felt like a homecoming of sorts. I couldn’t have been more right! So many things just sort of evolved from the weekend and conversations that it left me energized and excited for some future activities.

The train ride was long, and honestly if I have to travel further than a 8 hour drive, I’m flying. Period. I know it will be the weekend before my body forgives me for 20 hours on a train both ways.

The social aspect of things was awesome. We did get out to see the CN Tower and did go all the way up to the Skypod. We also took in the Hockey Hall of Fame. I took selected photos of my favorite jerseys and such. Poor Chris spent most of the day sick, but he was a trooper and held on as long as he could before admitting defeat and we got a cab back to the hotel. We had actually taken public transit downtown, which was fairly simple. I was not intimidated by it at all once we got going. On Saturday we spent the morning going for Dim Sum and exploring Chinatown. Chris had never eaten with chopsticks or experienced Dim Sum, so this was an experience for him, and how the Dim Sum was served was an experience for me. I was used to a checklist and a lazy susan in the middle of the table. Not carts circling your table constantly like sharks with tasty dumplings, noodles and the sort begging to be eaten! Anyhow, the Dim Sum was great, as was Kensington Market. I felt so town over so many pairs of cats eye glasses and antique rings I thought I just might die. In the end I didn’t buy any of them… I came home pretty much empty handed…

Well almost. I bought some bracelets in Chinatown from a vendor. I also came home with a wealth of knowledge on Port! I had never tried it in my life and an old friend of Chris’s, new friend of mine Bill let us sample his and I swear it was like drinking honey… it’s the only way I can describe it! So I thank Bill for the education on Port. It shall be added to our list of options.

So now I am home…I feel a longing to create, a longing to build and foster our Camarilla Domain anew. It will take a great deal of hard work from those who have the same vision, but I think with our experiences as a guide, and the needs and wants of members we will be off to a good start.

I had more to write here tonight, but I am exhausted, I have 61 work emails I would like to put a dent in before tomorrow morning and I have episodes of Bones and Dollhouse waiting for me.

So on that note, to new beginnings, old friends and new friends.

Toronto was just as I said to Jody, coming home.

X’s and O’s

~Squigzella

I’m up… I’ve been up since 6:30. Can’t break the wake up habits during the work week, even if I tried. My bag is all but packed. Just have to add my toiletries once I have my shower. I am in a heavy debate with myself on taking my black boots. They are a staple in my wardrobe… but they take up so much damn room in my suitcase! What would you do? We’ll see as I know I won’t make the final call until just before I close the damn bag!

Cookies were made the other night, they are packed, as are Phil’s comics that were left here ages ago. I am very excited to see everyone. I think that at least a quarter of the train ride will be spent in sheer excitement to get there (when we first leave, when we transfer trains and when we arrive in Toronto)

I am thankful that everything planned for Thursday night is low key so that if a restful sleep isn’t had on the train, then it won’t be unbearable.

So I’m hoping my cat doesn’t disown me while I’m gone, and I hope that work survives without me. I think I left them amply prepared for anything that might arise.

So the next post you see from me will likely be from TO, on Hil’s laptop. Safe travels to all those heading to Toronto this weekend, see you there!

X’s and O’s from my travelling pants,

~Squigzella

This week went by so fast. Work is SO busy that there just isn’t enough time in my days. I spent a few days there super early this week and stayed after 5 a few times. Year end for the Government is making my life busy…But that’s ok. Means we are making money right?

We go away in 17 days. I can’t believe how fast it is creeping up. I need to find a less formal outfit for one of the events. I am going to do some shopping this week and hopefully I’ll find something.

I was so exhausted I didn’t go to WW yesterday. I should have. But I didn’t. I did get on the scale and I am down just under a pound from last week. Ill be back next Sat of course. I was just so burned out I couldn’t pry myself out of bed to go.

On the topic of WW, I am starting to feel a difference in my clothes. God I love that feeling. I suspect by the end of March I’ll need to get new jeans, if not before. Mine are coming off without being undone now, but they are still comfy and don’t look *too* big.

I am eager to get things organized with Tara for her wedding in October, which reminds me to send her a To Do list we made. We are going out on Tuesday night, I’m looking forward to it. I didn’t realize how much we had been hanging out until she is now back to work, D&D was cancelled and I haven’t seen her. I miss her! So I’m looking forward to hanging out on Tuesday. Hopefully the weather won’t cancel D&D on us again this week.

Dave is coming… I want to go… Well to Montreal and Boston. I wanna go… I wanna go…

On a personal note, I got some stuff off my chest last night… and I feel better. I am always surprised by the compassion and understanding of some people in my life. I am truly blessed.

off to get groceries I go.

X’s and O’s

~Squigzella