About Marriage and Honesty

If there is anything I have learned in the last year of following along the lives of some of my favorite bloggers, it's that the best way to ensure your blog is successful is to be honest.

I think nearly all of my favorite blogs (this one, that one and the one over there) have posted at some point or the other about the difficult task of being honest and sharing some very personal and sometimes private feelings. And thoughts. And emotions.

So here goes.

I am a married woman. I like to think that all other married women experience the same things: the growing pains of learning to live along side this strange, new creature -- your husband.

There are times when I laugh at the things he does, times when we laugh together even. There are times that I am frustrated with what feels like an inability to communicate what I feel. There are times when we learn something together, about the other, and it's all beautiful and Hallmark-y and this-is-what-it's-all-about-y. And then there are times when I have this overwhelming, all consuming feeling that from the outside, my marriage has to be perfect.

I think that all married women feel that at some level at some point in their married lives. I would hazard to say that it falls somewhere after the "honeymooning" and  your 20 year high school reunion. Or maybe it's when you have kids and everything changes. I don't know. I'm just guessing.

At any rate, as likely every married woman feels, I feel like it's especially true for me. Mostly because I met my husband on July 29th, 2011. It's now July 20th, 2012 and we've been married long enough to have grown a baby. You do the math.

So I guess know what it is for me. It's that I am shouldering the load of what I think everyone else is thinking. It's a dangerous and slippery slope, lemme tell ya!

But even knowing that I don't know what everyone else is thinking, that I'm just assuming that's what everyone is thinking, doesn't stop the overwhelming desire to shed some serious crocodile tears out of frustration or exhaustion or just plain 'ol disappointment. I think what's worse, though, is that I feel like I can't tell anyone when things are not-so-sunny because I feel like my marriage has to be be perfect and that no one must know about the times -- which let's face it, there are a lot of little times -- when we are not perfect.

Or maybe it's the fact that I had someone really close to me call me up and spit venom at me for the better part of a half hour with particular emphasis on my serious lack of judgement in "rushing" in to this marriage. And a minor amount of emphasis on the fact that she was the only one that cared about me enough to be honest with me about it all.

Whatever it is, I seriously need to get over it 'cause my marriage isn't perfect. And it probably never will. And worst of all? Trying to gloss over that fact is exhausting.



LC

A long, long time ago...

...I wrote on this blog.

Wow, time flies, amIright?

Lots of changes, big changes, happening in my life these days.
First things first, I met a wonderful man, had a whirlwind, summer romance, a beautiful fall engagement followed by a secret elopement and marriage!

Next came a change of job ... I don't have one! I quit my Marketing role in May and headed west to reunite with my hubby at his family home ... his family home that is now OUR family home. Not that I am "in a family way" just yet, but good things come to those who wait, right??

So I've been living the life, in theory! Staying in a beautiful place that people come to vacation and "summer", not working -- except on this house -- and preparing for a fabulous, four week trip to Europe for some Olympics, InLaws and Honeymooning!

September will be the culmination of my epic, 3 month vacation as we invite friends and family to celebrate our marriage. Then, two short days later, I am off to school!!

So, big changes, more to come on what I've been doing - and more importantly, what it looks like!


Love,

LC

UPDATE MARCH 2015 : The funny thing is, when I wrote this entry, I had conceived a baby in the days before. Little did I know ...!

Some People's Children !!

A couple weeks ago, I had one of the worst weeks I'd had in a long, long time. I won't go in to the sordid details of it all, but suffice to say, I was pretty down in the dumps and definitely feeling that "woe is me", mean reds kinda feeling.
Amongst the issues I had that week, someone parked in my parking spot at home. Let me give you some context here. I live in a small-ish building with four floors of apartments and 7 apartments on each floor. We have a small, underground parking facility attached to our building. There is currently a waiting list to get in to that holy grail of parking.
Behind my building is a parking lot. It's surface parking, exposed to the elements, narrow and limited to about 10 spots. Most of those spots are occupied by various tenants and it's obvious which cars are assigned to which stalls. It's not secure or underground, but still, it's a guaranteed spot every time I come home.
Most of the time, that is.
I've had the misfortune, on occasion, to arrive home to find that my spot has been occupied by an unwelcome guest. I usually leave a note, park on the street where the parking is FREE and generally available, and move my car once the offending party has left.
It's happened more than once and my patience has worn thin on this issue. This is an assigned parking lot. You can't just park here.
That week that was so terrible was capped off by one such event. I came home to discover a black Ford F150 with a severely cracked windshield had parked in my space. Fuming, I considered boxing him in, but settled for writing this note:
This parking lot is assigned parking. You cannot park wherever you like. You are parked in my spot and I don't appreciate it. 
Not really rude, not really nice but very informative. I mean, maybe this guy didn't know? (I'm all about giving people the benefit of the doubt ...)
I was parked in the lot in a spot I knew was unoccupied and I kept a watch on the offending vehicle. When I saw someone get in to the driver's seat, I grabbed my keys and headed out to move my own car, assuming this guy was leaving.
Assumption Incorrect.
He moved his truck from my spot to someone else's.
(WTF!?)
The next day while driving home from work, I noticed something under my passenger windshield that I hadn't noticed earlier. I asked my man to pull over and lo and behold there was a note on my car. Under the far side of the windshield wiper as though the note's author didn't really want it to be seen. (When I leave notes on people's cars, I put it right under the driver's windshield so they can't miss it)
I pulled the note off and read it:
IGNORANT
Really? You parked in MY spot and I let you know that you can't do that and I am the one who is ignorant? Really?
Needless to say, I was livid. I knew where the owner of the black pick-up had visited. Knew which apartment he had been in. Conveniently, it was a main floor apartment that backed on to the huge concrete slab behind the building. I considered taking sidewalk chalk and writing the dictionary definition of "ignorant" facing the sliding doors to ensure it was seen.
I considered writing up a definition and posting it next to the mailboxes.
I considered writing a note that explained that it is ignorant to assume you can park in a parking lot where you don't live and posting that note at the mailboxes.
In the end, I decided to
just
let it
go.

Until last night.

I had been out with my man and a few of our friends to see the Muppet Movie (go see it it's awesome!) and arrived home around 9:30pm to see that there was a black Ford F150 parked in my spot.
Are
You
Kidding?

I was livid. Absolutely livid.
This time, I DID box him in. And left him the following note:
This parking lot is assigned parking. I am not ignorant for pointing that out. If you would like to be let out, you can call me. 
I signed the note with my phone number, snapped a few shots of the way I was parked and his license plate in case he decided to ram his way out and went inside.

2.5 hours later .... 
I was snoozing on the couch along to the movie Elf, when I heard my phone ring. I roused Timo with now success.
"Hey, it's probably that guy that wants his truck out," I said, "Will you come with me to move it?"
It was nearly midnight and I needed reinforcements - just in case.
I went out to the car to see that there was a passenger in the truck and it was running. I got in to my car and my phone rang,
"Hi, I think I must have parked in your spot"
YOU THINK!?
I told him I'd move the car and started it up, Timo in the passenger seat. As the driver ascended the stairs, I rolled down my wind.
"This is TWICE!" I said, holding up two fingers. He came right up to my driver's window and shoved a box of cookies in to my face.
"Merry Christmas," he said.
"What?" I asked
"Merry Christmas," he repeated, forcing the cookies all the way in to the car. I took them from him, muttering my thanks.
"I'd rather you just didn't park in my spot!" I called after him.

So now I'm left to wonder, did he park in my spot out of spite? Did he really just forget? (unlikely, IMO, since he parked on the opposite side of the lot when he moved it the first time) Did he really feel badly about his poor decision? So many questions that can only be answered with chocolate covered lady fingers.

L

Sharing Funny Stories

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away ... a galaxy called London, in a place called Blockbuster in the year 2001, a funny thing happened*....
I was young and still in high school, working part time at a video store to earn some cash to put gas in the family guzzler so I could have some independence get to work (it's a vicious cycle). I had a number of regular customers at the now-defunct-once-rental-giant; I could recognize most by face and some of those faces even sparked a synapse that caused me to remember their names. The particular fella I'm about to tell you about, though, was one of the few that I knew by face but not by name.
He was a blonde, stocky character that would come in to the store on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. On those visits, he was always either fighting with his girlfriend on his cell phone or fighting with his girlfriend in person as they walked through the doors. She had a ring on an important finger and had told me previously that they were engaged on one of her solo visits to our location. Though they usually started out rocky, by the time they'd toured the New Release Wall and sauntered up to my counter, snacks in hand, they had reconciled.
One sunny, Spring morning I was on my way to school - High School - wearing a favorite outfit that showed off my erm ... shapeliness. It was second period (I had first period spare ... amazing) and there were few people on the road and no one on the sidewalk. I saw a car coming towards me and heard some brutish comments as the driver passed me. Then the car turned around and pulled up alongside me.
"Hey!" the guy inside shouted
"Hi," I turned and smiled, but kept walking. He slowly drove -- the wrong way on the shoulder -- beside me.
"You're pretty fine,"
"And you're pretty white, to be using that expression," I thought to myself.
"Gimme your number," he demanded.
I smirked and shook my head.
"Okay, then take mine, hold on, I'll write it down,"**
I waited patiently and politely. The man was a young twenty something that I thought looked awfully familiar. He had peach-fuzzy, blonde hair and a round face. He was smoking, holding the cigarette between his lips while he wrote his number down on a matchbook. He looked up at me and handed me the matchbook and I realized -- this was the guy from Blockbuster. I waited for him to recognize me, though he did not. I smiled, took the matchbook and continued on my way. I folded the matchbook up and realized that this classy guy - a guy whom I had seen on several occasions with his girlfriend/fiancee - had written his number on a matchbook that he'd picked up the last time he'd been at The Forum -- the most notorious strip club on the West Side.

Elsie P

PS - He came in to the store several times after that day and never once recognized me from that day he stopped me on my way to school.


* Well, actually, lots of funny things happened. This is just one that sprang to mind today when I was walking to work and saw a matchbook on the ground.
** This was, after all, 2001. Not all of us had cell phones and smart phones and bump capabilities.

We all have "Boston" days ...

Came across this song today when I was feeling particularly
sentimental and sorry for myself.

Replace Boston for .. say .. Nelson
swap out California for Calgary and we have a winner ...!
Today I have a case of what I'm now going to call the "Boston's"
previously known as a case of the "mean reds".

Thankful Thursday

Well folks, here we are again.

Another Thursday.

Another moment to reflect on things we are thankful for.

It's been a tough last two weeks for me, ups and downs and haves and have nots and what not.

So this week I am thankful for the the haves.

I have a great family.

A really, awesome, fantastic family.

(youngest member pictured here as representative)

I have a wonderful best friend.

(Yes, you)

I have lots of people who care about me. 

People who want me to succeed

People who want me to be happy

And really, isn't that what life is all about??

Elsie P

PS - What are you thankful for today?

Growing up

Over time, people change.

We all change.

It's a brilliant and exciting time we live in where all of us are in a constant state of evolution.

We are growing in ways we may not realize right now or ever. 

We are growing in ways that are ... obvious.

Painfully so. 

Having survived my early 20's (a period I define as ages 20-23) and subsequently conquered (with mad skill) my mid twenties (that would be 24-26) I am, in a few short weeks, preparing to embark on my late twenties. (27-29 for those of you playing along at home). As we all know, the late twenties is a march whose end lays in first real milestone of adulthood: Thirty.

Now, when I say that there are ways that we see -- painfully -- that we've changed, I do, in fact, have an example for you. 

It involves a shot glass.

A piece of glassware that has been instrumental in my life over the last 9  years. (Yes, I realize the math on that has me drinking shots before the legal age. Get over it! But don't tell my mum, k??)

So, you ask, what integral part has this 1oz wonder played in my life? 

I shall tell you. 

In my (almost) early twenties, I learned how to do shots. 

And I did lots of 'em. Y'know, For practice...

I would have to say that the shot of choice for me then was Tequila. The reason was that I had been brought in to the world of shots by hard liquor. And for those of you out there who have ever shot hard liquor, you know it doesn't come much harder than Tequila.

The guys I used to hang out with liked to drink it and more so liked to make girls drink it when they were obnoxious at the bar -- obnoxious in the form of asking the boys to buy them drinks.  A girlfriend of mine was behaving in such a manner as to deserve the purchase of said shot and I was merely a by product of this particular night. Subsequent events turned me in to part of the boys' group. Subsequent events meaning that they set the shot in front of me, I'd never done it before, and I just ... shot it. No salt, no lemon.

Straight

Up 

Tequila.
Apparently that was impressive.
Especially considering I thought it was quite tasty and didn't make that nasty "WTF!?" face afterwards. It endeared me to them and I was immediately welcomed as part of the group.

In my early-to-mid-twenties, I took a bartending course and found that I loved to be behind the bar. The boys from my early twenties owned a house that they all lived in together that had - you guessed it - a bar in the basement. One night, after I completed my course, they stocked the bar and threw a huge party. And yours truly was the bartender. At the time, I was using shot glasses to make money, so to speak. Tips for bartenders - especially hot, blonde, twenty-something ones - are pretty good. Usually. In this period of my late-early-twenties-to-early-mid-twenties I also learned the art of the body shot.
Ahhhh the body shot.
I will leave it to you find out the intricate details of the body shot.
Or the hooter shooter.
Ooohh to be a young, twenty-something.

Yesterday, was my birthday. I have officially (in my mind) entered my late twenties.
And you know what I use my shot glass for now?

 Eggs.
A softboiled egg in the morning, and a cup of herbal tea (thanks Tink!)

Oh, how the times have changed.

Elsie P

PS - What do you use your shot glasses for?

Sad monkey?

So, as I mentioned in this post, a very wonderful friend of mine has headed off to Japan for a few months and then back "home" to work and re-group.

But not before spending a week with me. A WHOLE WEEK! In my apartment, enjoying my life with me. And you know what? I really enjoyed having someone around. It was nice to feel like a part of a whole, y’know?

We had some great chats and spent a lot more time than I would have expected, in the mall of all places.

We enjoyed massages at the spa and good meals at home and a few drinks on Friday night. A few too many, I should say...(that's another story.)

I was absolutely okay as we drove to the airport.

I was absolutely okay as we checked him in and sorted out his bags.

I was absolutely okay as we walked to security.

I was moderately okay as he kissed me goodbye and headed to his gate.

I was less-than-moderately okay throughout the day as I got text updates from him before he left North America.

I was definitely not okay when the workday closed and I realized I was going home to an empty apartment.

I was less-than-definitely-not-okay as I got in the car.

(I cried. A lot. All the way home! I can admit it!)

And I was sad when I got home.

I couldn’t eat.

I had a beer, but it didn’t help.

I talked on the phone, twice, with my best friend (who happens to be his very dearest friend as well).

I toddled off to bed around 8PM after contemplating writing sad, emo poetry.

I fell asleep instantly.
I am sure that this had to do with the fact that I hadn’t slept well the night before and was up at 5am.

I let myself be sad on Tuesday. I let myself feel the weight of his absence and grieve the loss of having someone to hang out with.  I let myself feel sorry for myself and I let myself sit on the couch in sweatpants watching trashy MTV Reality shows.

On Wednesday, I pulled it together. I got up early, I made breakfast, I styled my hair and I put on a cute outfit (I promise I’ll start doing outfit pics reallyreallyreallysoon) and I went to work. And I smiled. I checked the time in Tokyo three or four times, wondered if he’d made it all okay and whether or not he was safe. I texted with my best friend and we had some laughs. I teared up a few times during the day and my nose had that prickly-I’m-gonna-cry feeling twice. But I didn’t cry.

This is a really exciting adventure for him and a truly wonderful opportunity for me to refocus and re-centre myself for the year ahead.

But I was a bit of a sad monkey.

And that, friends, is okay.

Elsie P

PS – How do you deal with being sad?

Unnecessary Censorship

What is our world coming to? It has become more and more frustrating to express oneself due to the unnecessary censorship thrust upon the many by the few.

This morning, I heard that they are re-writing/editing a popular Dire Straits song. It's already happened in most locations online ... if you try and listen to the original song you're hooped. 

Have you heard about this?

It's the song Money for Nothing and the lyric in question is a term the British use as slang for cigarettes, that Websters Dictionary defines as a "bundle of wood or sticks" and which some people use as a reference to persons of a homosexual persuasion. 

Now, I did not hear whether or not the group pushing for this ban/re-write was an activist group comprised of homosexual people that found the lyric hurtful or derogatory, but I would hazard to guess that this is not the case. 

It seems that more and more the folks that are leading the charge against re-writing history, books, songs, etc are those that feel that they should be uncomfortable to hear that word. They are the overly-sensitive, what-are-people-going-to-think-if-I-DON'T-see-something-wrong-with-this types that choose to fight the least crucial battles. 

The announcer on my radio station made an excellent point. When he was 7 years of age and playing air guitar to this song, he wasn't enjoying it because of the potential inflammatory language. He wasn't jumping off the couch with his dad's Fender because Dire Straits said the word "faggot". It didn't make him stand up and say, "This is a great song because the band is demeaning a group of people through a generally accepted but oft ill-used slang word!!!" It wasn't even a thought in his mind and still isn't. 

I would challenge anyone to recall the exact lines that use this word, 'cause though my parents were big Dire Straits fans and I have heard this tune countless times, I couldn't recall the use of that word. 

Elsie P

PS - What do you think? Is it necessary to change all songs, books, speeches and history items that use words that are considered socially unacceptable in this day and age but were, at the time of publication, generally accepted? 

Thankful Thursday

Well, here we are again.

Another week has just FLOWN by. Like crazy fast!

I can't believe we're staring down the middle of the first month of 2011. Seriously, where did the last 13 days go??

As I posted last week in Thankful Thursday, I had a really wonderful friend here from out of town. He was preparing to go to Japan. And we had a wonderful time together. It was so nice to have another person around to enjoy the things that I like to do (and also to be there to keep me company during the things that I don't enjoy to do!!) So I am very thankful for that time.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
On Tuesday, I am going to start school again.
Lemme tell you, that's a bit of trip.
I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it and what it is going to mean for the next several years.
I am thankful for the opportunity and the financial stability I have to enable me to do this.

* * * * * * * * * *

I heard on the news this morning that a building downtown has been condemned. NBD right? Wrong. It's a big deal because that building houses a lot of low-income folks that can't afford a nicer place to live. It's a big deal because those people aren't necessarily -- or likley -- to be in a financial position to stay at a hotel for a few days before they are able to locate new housing. And it's a BIG DEAL because the high today is -21 degrees Celsius. With the windchill, it feels like -32. That's a big deal.

Elsie P

PS - In that last rant, I was trying to get across that I am thankful for the roof over my head.

Thankful Thursday

It's baaaaa-aaack!

After a brief hiatus, Thankful Thursday has once again returned to grace the pages of Real Life.

And I will endeavor to do this EVERY Thursday going forward. 

Yaaay! 

So, what am I thankful for today? 

Well, I have a very (new) dear friend of mine here to visit.

He is making his way to the far east to embark on a journey of epic proportions. 

Well, I don't know if you would think it's epic, but I sure do!

He's headed here:

To study this:

In case your geography is a little rusty, that would be Kyoto, Japan...which isn't exactly where he's headed...Japan yes. Kyoto, not really. 

And the sport pictured is Kendo The Japanese Art of Sword fighting. 

Cool, huh?

And! He bought me a Christmas present (which was totally unnecessary, btw) and it's beautiful.

It's a Swarovski crystal that is designed to reflect negative energy away.

So, I am thankful for this guy today.

Thankful that he would stop in and visit before he disappears for an indeterminate amount of time. 

See, our friend group resides in another province roughly 2600kms away from me. 

So he's said all his goodbyes to the rest of our group but I was unable to attend his going away ceremony. Graciously, he tacked on an extra few days to his journey and stopped in here, leaving family and friends behind, to spend his final days in Canada with me!

So don't I feel special!!

Elsie P

PS - What are you thankful for today?

Really!?

I just looked at the "stats" page ...

I had been curious if there were people out there that were actually reading this blog.

There are so very many spaces on the internet for you to stop and visit

I was not so vain to think that there were many people reading, except for the two of you for sure that I know about!

But low and behold I have had readers in

Russia, South Korea, Sweden, Malaysia,

Germany, Brazil, France and the Netherlands.

I'm totally blown away!!

So, I am asking you, if you read this, to g'ahead, jump in and follow me on this journey through 2011!

Let's see if I can get more than 2 of you to admit publicly that you read this ...

Elsie P

PS - Where are YOU ??

When I grow up ...

I don't know how many times I've written about this since it happened. 

But +1 to the total, I suppose!! 

When I was a freshman in High School, I had a fabulous Honors English Teacher. Mrs. N was not only my teacher but also my softball and basketball coach. (I used to be an athlete, neat, huh?)

Anyway, Mrs. N had this great IDEA...a TRADITION she planned on starting with the kids in our honors class. She was going to force give us a chance to preserve our teenage selves. 

All of our hopes, dreams, favorite bands, favorite moments; our ideas and thoughts and most importantly,

how we viewed the world and ourselves. 

It became an ongoing Independent Study Project. 

We had a list of a hundred or so topics and things to write about 

Make a list of your 10 favorite movies

Write a letter to your graduating self from your present-day self

Make a list of 10 things that make you smile

Write an Essay about what you would change about yourself and why.

.That one hit me. 

Write an Essay about what you would change about yourself and why.

That's a task, isn't it? 

I wrote the essay and turned it in and as was the fashion, Mrs. N read all our submissions, gave us a grade out of 10, wrote comments (at least on mine she did) and sealed them. 

The agreement was, you would receive your time capsule on Graduation Day to open before the ceremony. I wound up moving my Junior Year and thus was given the Time Capsule to take with me. 

On graduation day (June 2nd 2001) I opened up my capsule and dove in to its contents. 

It really wasn't all that eye-opening. 

In fact, I remembered 95% of everything - word for word - that I had written. 

(I have a wicked awesome memory, you see) 

But the best part was reading Mrs. N's comments. 

I remembered during the course of that year, Mrs. N had singled out "someone" who was going above and beyond with the project.

She described how that person not only completed the mandatory 16 items from the list, but also completed several more - with incredible enthusiasm. 

In front of our whole class, she would read a few of the things that people had written. 

Nothing so much as to give away who the author was. 

But I always knew when they were mine.

And often, they were. 

She singled me out (anonymously) by telling the class that not only had one person written a list of things that made them smile, but had gone from 10 to 100 things and given the explanation as to why they made the list. Impressive, she had said. 

I, of course, blushed fiercely from the middle of the room. 

However, I digress. 

The essay. 

Do you know what I wrote about? 

(Of course you don't)

I wrote that if I could change just one thing about myself it would be the fact that I wanted to change anything at all. You see, I wanted to strive not to change who I was in to something else, but rather to accept who I was and not only be happy with that but also appreciate how awesome a thing it was to be me. 

Mrs. N wrote some pretty nice comments in her lovely purple penmanship. 

Here it is, approaching ten years from my graduation from high school (!) and I still feel the same way. The only thing I would want to change is that I want to change things. 

I don't really want smaller thighs, I want to love the thighs I have and accept them for all their glory. 

I don't want thicker hair, I want to cherish the hair I do have (while I have it ...)

I don't want a smaller bust (oh, wait. Yeah, that one I do want....back to the drawing board...)

But you get the idea. 

We ask this of our kids, ourselves, our friends ... what would you change about yourself? 

How about this year, we try accepting ourselves for who we are? Continue to grow, continue to become the people we are meant to be and when we realize who that person is, love them for it. In spite of it. Because they.are.perfect.

Elsie P

PS - what have you learned to accept about yourself?

Happy New Year!

Hello Blogger friends...if you're out there. I am sure you are...at least I hope you are. 

I often hold on the the hope that there are a great number of you that read me but don't necessarily follow me. 

I wanted to start off this new year on a new-ish foot.

You'll notice in the coming weeks some updates t my profile and a few changes to the overall look of the blog. 

Also, I am making some new year's Blog-olutions. (yes I did just make up that word and of course, I realize it isn't as awesome written down as it sounded in my head.)

I digress. 

So I am making some changes to the blog. Here is what you can expect in the coming months.

1. Pictures... I fully intend to have much more photos in this year's blog. Particularly the addition of What I Wore on a weekly basis... I would say daily but I like to set goals that are both reasonable and attainable. This is to serve two purposes. The first is that I want to have a weekly blog entry to write about and the second is that I have noticed, over the past few months that I have very, very few photos of myself. And that's not right. At least, I don't think so ... is it??

2. Weekly Entries... as I mentioned in #1, I want to start having more weekly entries. i.e. features that show up (consistently) on a weekly basis. Kinda like what I started with the Thankful Thursday posts. 

3. More About Me... I confess, Elsie P is a pseudonym and I fully intend to change that in the coming months. The thing is, dear reader, that I have a bit of a concern with my job...I don't want to let out any info that I may not supposed to be let out. Also, I bask in my anonymity.

So readers, what do you think of that?

Elsie P (for now)

PS - what did you make for resolutions this year??

So long, 2010

As seems to be the popular fashion today, everyone I know is writing their "goodbye" to 2010 and reflecting on the year they had. 

Never one to buckle to peer pressure (haha) I am going to follow suit. 

Only, though, because I want to.

Not because everyone else is. 

I swear. 

So, one of the Blogs I read belongs to B.A. and you can find it here

Today, she posted a great lil post about the year, broken down by month, and what happened in each month, complete with links and photos going back to her posts that she's done over the year. 

I love this idea. 

But, as I have not put nearly enough thought in to the year to break it down by months, I will merely attempt a chronological retelling of the year. 

Without cool links to my previous posts. 

So, to recap my year ...
Winter...the first half of the year started out a little rocky. I split with my longtime boyfriend whom I complained about quite a bit on this blog. He was messy, lazy and didn't work consistently. 

We went through some pretty major financial ... shit. And it sucked. And at the time, I blamed him. A lot. For everything. Whether that was right or wrong, at the time that was how I felt. 

Looking back on it, you know, it probably wasn't entirely his fault and I was a little hard on him. But at the time, that was how I felt and there was precious little he was doing to change that view of mine. 

So, we made the decision to split up. 

Actually, truth be told, I think I made the decision when I woke up on "Christmas" day to find that he had left in the  middle of the night and wasn't returning my messages, answering my calls or emails. Oh, and did I mention he took my car, to boot?
Thus, the new year began with me at my folks place, and found me in the coming months looking for an apartment of my own.

Spring...And I found one.
Coincidentally enough, in a little building my father had lived in when he first moved out here. It was furnished and paid for by his company and served as "home" before he and my mother purchased their new house.
Funny how that works ... just about 4 years to the day, I moved in to a brand-spanking new apartment. And I live there still. Though I still haven't made it my own. Yet.
That was April.

May found me on a plane to visit a very dear friend that I hadn't seen in four plus years. The rest of the summer found me on that same air-route to the same destination to see that same friend ... and as it turns out, her fiance's best friend with whom I had developed somewhat of a romantic relationship.
Those first few months on my own were tough. Really tough.
So tough, in fact, that I spent the first night in my apartment not in my apartment at all.
I was lonely and scared and sad and just. couldn't. do it.
So I packed up and spent the next few nights at my mum and dad's.
When I finally thought I had the nerve to sleep in my own place, I realized I was wrong and begged my little sister to stay the night with me. It wasn't until night 5 that I slept there alone.
But I started a lot of searching for me and doing things for me and spending money on me and made those first few months about me. A lot about me. And it felt good.
I started walking to and from work and also going for walks on the weekends and in the evenings. Long walks. Like more than an hour long walks.
I felt great.

Summer...A really good friend of mine got married in July and I spent two weeks away from work, away from home, vacationing back east, capping my trip off with her wedding.
Her fabulous, beautiful wedding that I was so honored to be invited to.
Though it was only fitting, considering 5 years before I had introduced her to this man that she would eventually marry.
Matchmaking success!!

Fall... came, and with it some decisions about my life. I was given the opportunity to plan this fabulous event. Well, really, it was just an event until I took it over. (haha) then it became fabulous.
It gained me some international recognition within my company and put me in a position where I was offered a job in Houston. Sadly, once I had made the decision that I could uproot my life and start over and that it was a good time a great opportunity, etc etc, I was told that the company had decided to go in a different direction.
This got me started thinking about a new tattoo. (Odd? sure. Left field? Definitely. But I promise, in a year, when I finally decide whether or not it's something I actually want to do, it will ALL make sense.)

Winter...got me thinking about my worth within this company and what I wanted to be doing in the next five to ten years. So what do I want to do?
Well, the opportunity for me to take on a bit of a Human Resources Role was presented. After a chat with the president of our company (where he told me that he appreciates everything I do and that he sees a greater role for me in the coming years...!!!) I decided that I needed to head back to school to gain the knowledge to succeed in this potential new role.

And here we are, on the precipice of a new year which will bring with it some new opportunities, new friends, new experiences and new heartaches. I greet it with open arms having blown my kiss to 2010.


Your closing night has come, 2010. Take a bow.
It's time to strike the set and get ready for the next show.

Elsie P

PS - what did you learn in 2010?

November, where did you go?

I was really awful about posting for November, wasn't I?

I promise, I have a good excuse reason.

I was busy planning a large event for work.

Intrigued?

Thought so.

It was our annual User-Client Conference.

This year, held in San Antonio. Home of the Alamo.

And the River Walk.

Which smelled a lot better than I thought it would.
I nailed it, in every sense of the word.
So  much so that my boss now wants me to plan all our staff events.
Saaweeeeet!!

The view from my hotel room, the Palacio Del Rio - Hilton

That's the Tower of the America's and the four spikes

sticking up to the left are the tips of the AlamoDome

Here's a quick preview of where we had our Welcome Reception

And of course, because I left here on a Tuesday and wasn't
flying back til the following Saturday morning.....

I needed all of these

 Eight pairs.

And I wore every.single.one.

Stay tuned for a photo tour of our trip to San-An.

Elsie P

PS - Have you ever been?? You should go...

That tastes good!

On Tuesday I went out for dinner with a friend.

We had a great time.
Some laughs, some good chats, some fantastic food!

I stumbled upon this restaurant, Taste somewhere in my internet travels. On Tuesdays they serve a tasting menu; 3 courses for $30 or pair each course with wine for $50.

It.Was.Awesome.

Totally exceeded my expectations -- and we went without the wine.

Here's what it looked like:

The first course was a roasted red pepper hummus with house made

basil infused pita chips. The hummus was a little sweeter than

usual. Thus the chef had sprinkled some black sea salt

to combat the sweetness of the red pepper.

The menu was a blind tasting menu.

That means they didn't tells us anything about what we're going to eat.

They asked if we had allergies or aversions to anything.

We both said no, though in hindsight, T said that he hoped he wouldn't eat his words.

So I guess we found one aversion. *wink*

The second course (which yes, I do realize is out of focus...

 and also partially missing) was a venison something-or-other

(help me out here!)

that reminded me of prosciutto, with a lil baby arugula salad

with house made blueberry vinaigrette, which was quite strong -- in a good way.

(I ate a piece of the venison before slamming my fork to the table in disgust of myself for having forgotten after only one course that I needed to take a photo. And that was withOUT any wine!!)

 

The third course.

Ahhhhh the third course... it.was.delicious.

After this course, T remarked that because of his underwhelmed-ness towards so many of the ingredients in this dish, he never would have ordered it if he'd seen it on the menu. But he loved it. LOVED it.

What was it?

It was a Black Truffle and Wild Mushroom Risotto topped with deep-fried Oysters and Lamb bacon.

In order to cut the richness of the risotto, there was some type of lemon infused oil that matched so perfectly the overall texture and taste.

Doesn't that look divine!?

No meal is complete without that little something sweet.

Whoops, didn't mean for that to rhyme but it dii-iid.

So, this was a trio of teeny-tiny creme brulee.

YUM! Those are 1-inch ramekins, BTW.

The three flavors (from right to left) are

Butterscotch - a classic and beautifully done.

Winter Spice - this was like pumpkin pie, eggnog and a sugar cookie all converging on my tastebuds for a few blissful moments of sheer and utter awesome. That one was delish.

And thirdly - wait for it - Maple Bacon.

Yup, Maple BACON creme brulee.

I had a lovely Americano and it really complimentd this last lil guy nicely.

But this was my favorite part.

These little guys were spongy lovely vanilla cupcakes

with a beautiful cream-cheese-bailey's icing.

They came with our william.

Their purpose?

"To ensure you leave with the right taste in your mouth."

Brilliant.

Elsie P

PS - Where have you been recently?

Santa Shuffle

This year I decided I wanted to help out a charity.

Namely, the Sally Ann.
Or the Salvation Army, if we want to get all technical.

This worked out well, 'cause I was also doing this thing called the C25K.

(More on that, though, in another post.)

Knowing that all the guys in my office are also very health conscious folks (They work out EVERYDAY at lunchtime in the gym facility our office building is equipped with) I asked them if they'd like to join my endeavour. I sent an email to our entire Candian team (yep, all 12 of them!) to see who might want to join in.

Hey guys,
I know a lot of you having been hitting the gym at lunch almost every day and I thought what better way to celebrate your success on the third floor than to participate in a fun, 5K race for a great cause??
The race takes place on December 4th 2010 at 10am.
There is a fundraising component to this as well, in order to support the Salvation Army and their effort to feed some families.
It costs about $50 to feed a couple and $100.00 to feed a family. It’s not a requirement for the race at all; feel free to solicit donations from family/friends at your own discretion.
Please let me know if you are interested and I will get us registered! It should be a ton of fun – a little chilly perhaps – but a ton of fun!

Then, the President of our company sent me a follow up e-mail offering not only to pay for the entrance fee of $150 but also to match dollar for dollar everything we raised.

As a team, we put up a pretty impressive $1060.00 which in turn was doubled. It was more than I expected from the company but it was certainly a welcome addition to the event.

I was speechless, needless to say, and overwhelmed by the generosity that so defines the company I work for.

Here's a few shots of us before the race:

And after:

It was a mild -12 degrees C that morning.

Not too bad, actually, for running!

I finished in a time of 42:40 which beat my time of 45:00 that I was aiming for!

Next one I am aiming to shave about 11 minutes off that time and going for a 32:00min run.

Elsie P

PS - Which do you prefer, running indoors or out?

Extra-curriculars

Disclaimer - I am an uber procrastinator and though I started working on this post in SEPTEMBER I am just getting around to finishing it now. So bear in mind that this was started on the 20th of Sept.

It's that time in Canada.

That time where we see peoples names emblazoned on billboards, buildings, roadsigns and lawns.

It's Municipal Election time.

The official Nominations are closed; if you applied to be in, you're in.

How does this tie in to me, though?

Glad you asked.

I am working on a Mayoral campaign right now in a small-ish city of 40,000.
The current mayor has been in office too long and my candidate is looking pretty promising.

How does one campaign, you ask?
Well, it's simple.
You just do what needs to be done!
What needs to be done is you need to let the voters know who you are, why you're running and moreover why you would be the best choice for them.

This is achieved - in our case - through a series of literature drops and doorknocking sessions.
Doorknocking is my forte.
I love it.
With a passion.
You get to knock of doors and talk to the people
You get to tell them about your candidate
You get to show them how they think just like your candidate
and then you get to ask them for their vote.
It's exhilirating and lovely and educational!

Update: The election is long over - almost 2 months to the day - and we lost.
By a lot.
But if you want to hear the story of election day, let me know and I will write it.

Oh, hi there!

Hello Internet!

How are you?

I am well, thank you!

It's Christmas on Saturday??

Really?? You don't say ....

Yes, folks, it is that time of year once again.

Christmas, followed closely by the close of the year.

And here I am, stuck at work, with basically nothing to do.

So of course, I will blog.

I have so. many. things to catch you up on! And pictures of (almost) all of it!

I've been trying very, very hard to remember to take photos of blog-worthy things.

I think I have succeeded, but you can confirm that for me.

Let's start by chatting briefly about Christmas.

Here is what it looks like in my office right now.

The engineers got together at the beginning of the month, I made cookies, someone brought eggnog and they call decorated our company Christmas tree.

THAT's right.

It's not a holiday tree.

It's not a seasonal tree.

And it's certainly not a non-denominational-seasonally-appropriate-politically-correct-religiously-neutral tree.

And under the tree are our donations for the food bank

Pretty decent haul for an office of only 12 people.

A few weeks ago, I celebrated (what has become an annual tradition) Fake Christmas with my family.

I have a sister that went and got herself hitched and subsequently moved away.

Every year, she comes back either before or after Real Christmas and we have our usual Christmas celebration.

What does that entail?

Well, going to see a movie on Fake Christmas Eve, eating delicious finger type foods with an essential being spinach dip and fondue. Then, in the AM, we have breakfast - usually scrambly eggs and croissants - and then open gifts, play with gifts, making a wonderful feast - this year was roast beast - eat said wonderful feast and pass out in front of a movie.

Super fun.

I got tons of fun stuff from my sis and her hubby and I am very thankful!!

So, now it's time for real Christmas ... and we shall repeat the aforementioned process. But with Turkey.

Elsie P

PS - What's your Christmas Tradition??