The ABC's of what I've been up too lately.

A – for Adele. I’ve been listening to her soulful voice every chance I get.

B – for Bakery. My middle sister just turned 28, and being the jobless girl I am, I proposed to her that I would make a Cake Boss Cake. Well…let me tell you, I followed the directions to a Tee (not usually easy for me to do!). Did it take all day to make? Yes. Was it worth it? Ugh, that’s up for debate. It tasted fine, but all in all I think dishing out the money for a DQ cake would have been much more appropriate. Needless to say, I’m not opening up my own bakery anytime soon!

C – for Concerts. I’ve been a concert junkie all my life, but only now is it coming out of the closet. I snuck in to see a 70’s rock band at a motorcycle event, went to see Brad Paisley and Eric Church, went with my dad to see Alan Jackson, Big and Rich and Gretchen Wilson, and this weekend is Kempenfest! Love it! 

D – for Drive-in. I’ve only been once this summer and I must say I’m disappointed in myself. But being the long weekend, and the night owl I am, I would have to say a Dusk till Dawn (three movies and two bags of popcorn later) is in order! Any one wanna come with?

E – for Excitement ! My bestie from Waterloo is up this weekend and I can’t wait to sit in the hot tub with a glass of wine and catch up with her!

F – for Freaked the F out ! I’ve been doing a lot of running/walking lately and yesterday my worst nightmare was confirmed. My neighbor has spotted a black bear not once, but TWICE around our house. Bear Bell here I come!

G – for Golden Girls. Not only should I get double points if we were playing Scattagories, but I have been falling in love with this show. You gotta love the Déjà View channel, which shows an hour of these hilarious woman every day.

H – for Hurley, my cat. I saved her from the storm early this morning when she was stuck outside in the down pour and she hasn’t left me alone ever since!

I – for Ice Cream. It may be shocking to some, but I hate Chocolate anything, but if you got soft serve Vanilla, sign me up.

J – for Juggling. I still don’t know how to do it L

K – for Klondike Bar, although your commercials are amusing, I would do nothing for you!

L – for L.a.m.b. Yes, you heard right ladies. I have purchased my first l.a.m.b. bag, well I like to think of it as more of an investment. And sorry boys, but this is the new love of my life!

M – for Megan. I miss her so much.

N – for Not a chance in the world will I ever grow out of sleeping in during a thunderstorm.

O – for Okay, I didn’t think this ABC thing through,.. this is getting tough(er).

P – for Pink. That’s the colour nail polish I can’t get enough of on my toe nails this summer.

Q – for Q-Tips. Who invented those things anyways? I think they are dangerous and freak me out when someone comes after me with one.

R –  for Rogers. I really hate you’re phone company. I think that speaks for itself.

S – for Sewing. Sure I was in girl guides for a many years and know how to sew, which is exactly why I have started making myself a dress to express my talents to the world…pft, not really, but we’ll see.

T – for Time. Where does it go? It’s noon and I’m still in my pj’s. This may or may not have happened yesterday as well !

U – for the U.K. I know this sounds weird, but often when I travel people always guess that I am British. They also like to say that I am Australian…then again, at least English makes sense because I have pale skin!

V – for Vagasil commercials. HA HA HA , They make me laugh every time.

W – for Weekend. Just because I have trouble remembering what day or the week it is most of the time, does not mean I don’t know when the weekend is here. Especially a Long one, at that.

X –  for X-rated. I would love to share this one with you, but like the cosmopolitan-Sex and the City girl that I am…. I never kiss and tell.

Y –  for Yahtzee. That is the ultimate game to play at the cottage under candle light.

Z – for Zebra. I love everything with that hot, sexy print all over it!

it's always been you

There is a four-letter word that has been bothering me a lot more than usual. No, its not a swear word, those never bother me. And no, it is not describing the weather- even though I know it has been freakishly hot lately. It’s the good old fashion word that scares some people to death, yet to some it comes so easily you wonder what’s wrong with me?

Love.

Its something I’ve truly only experienced once. However, I think that me being only 20, its not a bad thing to limit the amount of times I say it aloud – minus the times I say it to my family and friends. But that’s not the kind of love I’ve been having a problem with. My friends and family are always there for me, and when one often uses that fearful little word to others, family and friends always goes hand-in-hand. But it’s the love between a simple man and a simple woman that I’m talking about today.

Why is it that some can experience it time and time again, when others are still trying to figure out if they’ve even had it at all? People sing songs, write breath-taking poems and even confess about it in unusual places. It causes headaches, nausea, sleep-loss and uncontrollable emotions. It can bring you up into some ones arms, or make you crumble to your knees. It’s ugly, beautiful, lying and powerful. It never ceases to amaze me what a little love can do, but it also doesn’t shock me when it comes crashing and burning. Maybe I’m being a little negative about it all, but I think at the moment I have good reason.

My sad story has been about five-years in the making. And it has caused me so much delight, pleasure and pain that I would need another five-years to describe it to you.  However, this pair that I speak of are by no means a match made in heaven. When one of us is adventurous, fun and makes the best out of what they have, the other is intelligent, goes for what they want and is grounded. But it works for them. These two have helped each other out in ways I never knew friends could have, and fight like there is no tomorrow. There have been long periods in which they don’t speak and times when they are inseperable, but at the end of the day they always come back to each other.

Now I know this happens a lot more in life then I would even like to consider, but timing was never their strong suit. When one is tied down, the other is not and visa versa. It’s a story Hollywood has written a million times, and is surely going for a tragic-love story ending, in which I can only assume takes place at an altar.

This is why my four-letter word problem can be followed by another eight-letter word. Hopeless.Perhaps I'm leaving parts out of this situation, but I feel that Mr. Depp says it much better than I ever could. Cheers, Johnny.

xx

i'll sleep when i'm dead.

We all need a little more adventure in our lives...

So talking with my best friend (we've been bff's since age 4!) we decided it had been all too long since we'd both put down our cellphones and busted out the paddles. So we did just that. One extremely windy day (No, we didn't intent on it being that way)  we woke up early and loaded the canoe on top of her little mazda and drove to Nottawasaga River in search of the same adventure from five years earlier. And we did!... Not only did I get us lost while holding a map in my hand, but we had to pull over several times in order to assure the canoe wouldn't fly off the roof and land on the road behind us or even worse, on someones car! When I finally managed to get us back on the right road, the river was lovely, and our paddling skills came back so naturally it's as if we'd never stopped. We caught up on each others lives and even brown bagged it for lunch, it was amazing and I can't wait to do it again. Of course it did help that we only had to paddle 1/4 of the way back! You gotta love rivers and their currents.

 Ah yes, then comes the good'ole Warrior Dash! Ironically enough when I got let go from my job from a fractured foot, the last thing I had on my mind was doing a 5km extreme obstacle course on ski hills. But I couldn't resist! I signed up so fast I didn't even consider the thought of further damage to my body. And believe me, I did a real number! 

Not only was this course filled with deep mucky-mud puddles that contained rocks so sharp in them you'd mistake it for broken glass, but it also had rough dirt paths and extreme heights. During the 40-something minutes it took me to complete it, we hurdled over and under ropes, tires, hay bails, cars, and fire! My favourite part however, was the giant slip n'slide that they had man-made on one of the ski hills. This so called "water slide" had no qualities that would pass for a slide at Wonderland, nor the safety. The only thing it had in common with an actual water slide was the water, and even that was a stretch. Thinking this was going to be by far the best part of the race, I took a running leap and slammed my body against it hoping to make up for some lost time. The second I did, I immediately regretted my decision. Now I was hurdling (at a good speed) towards the center of this tarp that had a thin coating of water on it, with huge rips in it revealing the MASSIVE bed of rocks underneath it. Sure enough as I see this and try to quickly change my course away from the rocks and come to the realization that this is why I had to sign a waiver, my sister slams into the back of me giving me an extra boost into the deathly rocks. For lack of some swearing and cursing that came after that, I will just let you know that I now have the biggest case of rock and gravel burn on my ass and knee's you've ever seen! Who decided to build a water slide on a bed of rocks with a tarp thinner then wax paper is beyond me, but I paid the price!

I wouldn't say it's as bad as the time I fell off a moving scooter in Ft. Lauderdale, but it's a close second. Just when I thought my torture was over from this race of hell, my sister and I go to jump into the mud pit at the end and crawl under the 'fake barbwire'! Well fake my ass, my hair gets caught in it and reefs my neck back into the most awkward position of life and now I have another injury to add to my list!

... I crossed the finish line and immediately wanted my free beer (well technically, that beer cost me $60 in registration fees!) But it never tasted so good, let me tell you.

Once we went and dropped our shoes off in the shoe donation pile, mine which no doubt had a full making of a swamp inside them, we got hosed down. Yes, something that I thought would never compare to my $60 mildly cold beer! But standing there with 50 of my closest muddy warriors we lined up and got hosed down by firefighters! If that isn't worth all my blood and sweat, I don't know what is! By the time we got home, my lack of hydration had been replaced by alcohol and my scraps and cuts burned terribly as I tried to get the caked on mud out of my hair and nose. Just know that I didn't call it a night and go to bed early, which I could have easily done. I was a champ and went out with the girls to throw down a little rodeo at the ranch. Notice how I'm the one who looks like a lobster from all the sun and running, not really a good look for me.

It was great fun, however for the next few days until my ass-scrap calms down, I am limited to wearing skirts and dresses. Just what a jean-short wearing tom-girl likes to hear in the middle of summer ! Greeeeaaat.

xx

If you're a strong female, you don't need permission

People piss me off sometimes. 
And lately, i'm not naming names, it's been happening on a more regular basis. 
I realize people have opinions and some may be more willing to share them then others. So there you are listening to other peoples nasty (let's be honest, no one is positive anymore) comments and rude remarks and find yourself at a loss for words. If you're me, you go for the nervous laugh and pray to God that the subject changes soon. But how many times can you really talk about the weather in the same conversation?

I like to consider myself an educated opinionater (no, that is not a real word, but yes, that is how I am!). This definition to me means that I am well versed in both sides of the world around me and feel I play the 'pros and cons' to each side before I make up my mind. Coming from a journalism program, I am also not quick to believe everything people say and do my own research first. I know I am not always politically correct and believe me when I say I am trying my best to work that especially after what just happened to me.
That being said, listen to this.
The other day a person sat me down and talked to me about a subject as normal as any other. This person was explaining their "ins and outs" and how they expected others behaviour to be. Then the person said this, "I don't like nigg*rs, and I hate fagg*ts. I will not tolerate their behaviour and I think they all have a mental illness" 
And just like that, my conversation went from Boring to Messed up in four seconds flat. 
Truth be told, this conversation happened four days ago now, and it is still upsetting me. 
I understand there are kinds of people who speak freely about this and hey, they have a right to their own opinion. But just because that is your opinion, it doesn't mean that it is anywhere near mine. Speaking of being honest, I wish I could go back four days to that very moment and stand up to this individual. Tell them I appreciate their opinion but that is not how I feel and truth be told, I think that it is very rude of you to use those words so openly as you just did. And tell them that if they are around me I would like them to keep those thoughts to themselves. But that damn old nervous laugh of mine just popped up so fast I didn't even know where it came from... and this is why I am thankful for my reflects sometimes.

I felt I had to share this because I want everyone to know that they should stand up for what they believe in. Also for the woman out there, don't feel that you have to change your opinion based on what a man's opinion is. We are strong and independent and have just as much right to have and share them as men do. 


&& that is my rant for the day. 

xx