I got an early birthday present from my hubby!

Last week, I was being silly, and I posted on Facebook that I really wanted a particular poker table, and posted a link to said table with the post. I didn’t expect Barry to actually order it… LOL!

But, he did – just in time for my poker-themed birthday party coming up on the 9th. That was so thoughtful of him!

We’ve got the perfect place for a new poker table in the bar area of our home, just outside the home theatre doorway… Of course, we’ve got a beer fridge just footsteps away, and a place to mount a tv (we did once have a tv there, but have since moved it upstairs). It’s the perfect poker space in our home!

I can’t wait.

It should have arrived today, but it looks like it might be tomorrow now.

So… who wants to come out and play some poker?

I’ve been thinking about doing this post for a while now, and it’s finally time! I wanted to tell you about the community of Seton that is blossoming right across the street from our home in Auburn Bay. It’s pretty exciting! The “South Health Campus” (aka the new hospital in Calgary) will be opening it’s first phase in about a month’s time, and ground has now broken on a number of retail areas of the new neighbourhood, just steps from our home.

I’m so excited about the possibilities that this new community offers the residents of Auburn Bay, especially those right across the street from the new hospital like our home is. Several major retail outlets have already signed on to move into Seton, including BMO Bank of Montreal (can you guess which branch I’m hoping to build my career in?) and that’s so exciting!

Here’s a map of the new community… Our home is literally right across the road from the top centre of the map:

Here’s a flyover to give you a better idea of what’s percolating nearby… To put this in context, the large building that is highlighted in blue is the new hospital, and we’re right across the road from that.

And, one more interesting video from before our home was actually built (yet, it almost looks like our home is featured – one of the houses looks identical to ours – colour and all – as they round the first corner of the main gate… we back onto the main boulevard here in Auburn Bay). We live about a block from the lake, which Barry and I definitely need to use more! (ps: have I mentioned I love our street? We have the most awesome neighbours!!)

So. Much. Potential! It’s worth all this dust currently being pushed around, for the final features of the Seton Community only steps from our home.

YOUR TURN: Would you buy a home based on potential neighbourhood features, years away?

I decided a little levity today would be welcome… It seems like a workday Tuesday after much of last week off is a hurdle better overcome with some giggles:

Ways To Have Fun in the Workplace

• Page yourself over the intercom. Don’t disguise your voice.
• Find out where your boss shops and buy exactly the same outfits Wear them one day after your boss does. This is especially effective if your boss is of a different gender than you.
• Make up nicknames for all your coworkers and refer to them only by these names. “That’s a good point, Sparky.” “No, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to disagree with you there, Cha-Cha.”
• Send e-mail to the rest of the company telling them exactly what you’re doing. For example: “If anyone needs me, I’ll be on the roof.”
• Hi-Lite your shoes. Tell people you haven’t lost them as much since you did this.
• Hang mosquito netting around your cubicle. When you emerge to get coffee or a printout or whatever, slap yourself randomly the whole way.
• Put a chair facing a printer. Sit there all day and tell people you’re waiting for your security documents.
• Every time someone asks you to do something, anything, ask them if they want fries with that.
• Send e-mail back and forth to yourself engaging yourself in an intellectual debate. Forward the mail to one of your colleagues and ask her to settle the disagreement.
• Put your office’s Iron Mountain bin on your desk. Label it “IN” or “INBOX.” This is especially good if you are out of the office on vacation.
• Feign an unnatural and hysterical fear of staplers and / or clients.
• Send e-mail messages saying there’s free pizza or donuts or cake in the lunchroom. When people drift back to work complaining that they found none, lean back, pat your stomach and say, “oh you’ve got to be faster than that.”
• Put decaf in the coffeemaker for three weeks. Once everyone has withdrawn from caffeine addiction, switch to espresso.

Hi kids!

Hope everyone is doing great! It’s been super-duper crappy weather for the last couple days here in Calgary, but THAT’S OKAY! Barry and I are heading off to the land of sin and sun for a few days, and so this rain is perfect timing for us!

Besides, “Browngary” needs a little wet weather to green up our surroundings – After last weekend’s heat wave (and BEAUTIFUL, top-down weather for the trip back from Canmore after a weekend with the fun-loving gals!) it’s just a warm up for what’s ahead of us for weather in Las Vegas!

We’re planning on several poker tournaments, where I hope to win a couple again… (although I’d love to see Barry win, as he’s most certainly a better player than I!) And because our anniversary is during our trip, it will be marked by a helicopter ride into the Grand Canyon, where we land and enjoy the beautiful surroundings and a champagne picnic, before flying over the strip at sunset and topped off with a limo ride back to our hotel. Bliss! I’ve done the experience (most of it, anyhow, many years ago now… I’ll have to dig up a link if I wrote about it) but Barry has never experienced that, so I can’t wait to share it with him on our second anniversary.

Barry is forcing me to go shopping (yep, you read that right… I still hate shopping, and I don’t enjoy buying clothes when I’ve got 10 lbs to take back off!) but, alas, we are instituting a His-Day-Goes, Hers-Day-Goes, so, that’s one of the things he wants to do, and I’m not allowed to pout about it. I’ll keep you updated on how that side-trip goes

And, finally, I think we’ll see at least one show while we’re there, but seeing how it’s going to be a my-day-goes day that happens on, I’m going to wing it, and see what deals are on at Tickets4Tonight on the day of.

Oh, and speaking of Tickets4Tonight, we found an amazing steak deal the last few times we have been down, so we’ll be going back to Harrah’s for a nice dinner out at The Range (the two-for-one deal is purchased through one of the ticket wickets on the strip… great deal!).

YOUR TURN! What’s your favourite thing to do in Vegas?

Good afternoon everyone!

Tomorrow marks two years since we moved into our beautiful home in Auburn Bay… It’s been fairly easy acclimating to the Alberta way of life since we moved our home from Vancouver. I love our neighbourhood, neighbours and friends we’ve developed over the past couple of years, and I’m looking forward to growing our social circle in Calgary even further in the months and years ahead.

When I moved to Calgary, I considered myself a moderate, or “small C” conservative (ie: the BC Liberal Party fit many of my political views) however, with this new province comes quite a different political landscape, and I’ve found that I’ve become even more conservative in my politics since I’ve moved.

I can’t really put my finger on why that is, perhaps I’m just getting older, and more fiscally conservative in my thinking? I guess there’s a lot of reasons.

So, when I was faced with the upcoming election decision, I really considered only two parties… The PC, Progressive Conservative party, and the Wild Rose party. Not being a card-carrying member of either, I felt my mind was open to the possibility of voting either way, as they are both have conservative platforms.

But, there’s distinct differences in the two parties in my opinion, and I’ve definitely been swayed towards the Wild Rose for many reasons. (Although, if you’d asked me two years ago, I would have said PC all the way!)

Here’s a few reasons why the Wild Rose will get my vote:

• I like Danielle Smith. I think she’s well-spoken, and confident. I don’t like Alison Redford – her demeanor is shifty, and doesn’t inspire my confidence at all.
• On the topic of health care, I believe the Province needs to be far better able to handle the critical needs of their constituents – if the lines are too long, the health care system needs to provide another way to make sure patients are taken care of. Danielle Smith believes we should pay for private, or out-of-province care when this happens, and I’m wholly on board with this idea. Redford believes more clinics are needed – this does nothing to help the ailing surgical system, and cancer care waiting times. Not a fan of this idea at all.
• When it comes to social policy, I believe that Alison Redford is moving the PC party towards socialism rather than conservatism. An example? She believes the Welfare programs need a lot more money. Smith believes they need to be better managed. I agree with her.
• When it comes to environmental issues, Smith believes industry should be held more accountable to fixing their own problems, and Redford believes government should be more involved. I’m in favour of making industry pay, and not making the Province (and the people) pay the bill.
• One issue that I believe should not be a part of the Provincial policy is Federal law… The PCs believe the blood-alcohol limit for drivers should be changed from .08% to .05%. The Wild Rose does not. I strongly agree with the Wild Rose on this one. As much as I find drinking and driving appalling, changing the limit does absolutely nothing to remove problem drivers off the road. If the law needs to be changed, let the Federal government make that ruling for the whole country.
• And, finally, I agree with Danielle Smith’s position to rollback the 34% pay increase the PCs voted for in 2008 right after the last election. Redford, who is currently the highest paid Premier in Canada, refuses to consider doing this. Add onto that the crazy amount of pay the PCs enjoyed for rarely or never sitting on committees, of which only a portion was made to be paid back after political heat.

Yes… I’ve made up my mind.

YOUR TURN: Have you decided? Tell me why you made the decision you did?

Good morning all…

It’s currently 4:55am, and yes, I’ve been up all night with pain again. I just couldn’t stomach (no pun intended) the thought of going to the hospital last night. So, despite eating very carefully yesterday, my body is still punishing me.

I’ll be heading back to bed in a few minutes, but I thought I’d share something cool that is going on in my backyard right now – Live! with Kelly is taping four shows in Banff National Park – How cool is that?

For those readers that don’t know my neck of the woods, Banff and Canmore are just over an hour’s drive away from us. It’s beautiful there, and Barry and I hope to purchase a vacation home in Canmore one of these years.

Here’s why:

Isn’t it gorgeous? I’m so proud to be Canadian! We have a really spectacular place to live here. I’m off to try to get some sleep now…

YOUR TURN: Have you spent time in Banff or Canmore? Where did you stay?

Good morning guys… It was another sleepless night for me. I once again experienced a fairly severe gallbladder attack. I am totally at fault, I know, because yesterday I threw caution to the wind and had some high fat foods. That Ukrainian food was NOT worth the suffering later, trust me.

I’ve had probably seven (I believe) attacks in my lifetime now. I’ve had four in the past month or so — I think it’s time I made my way to the emergency room during my next attack. I’ve been told by doctors that gallbladder attacks and gallstones are difficult to diagnose unless you are having an attack. Which makes sense, I guess, because I’ve waited for months for an ultrasound appointment in the past, only to have the technician say that she saw a little enlargement of my gallbladder, and my liver seemed a little inflamed also, but they couldn’t specifically say that the gallbladder was infected, or the stones were causing the incessant pain over many hours of the attacks I’d had a month previously.

I was told to present myself at an ER during an attack, as it was the only way to truly know.

Awesome.

Except, I have an extremely busy job with many tasks that are time-sensitive, and choosing an attack-night to spend in the ER doesn’t really work for my schedule. And of course, it’s almost certainly not going to get me into surgery should I decide to have the gallbladder removed, any quicker.

And, of course, I feel bad for Barry, who’s kept up by my moaning, squirming, thrashing about in bed, and can’t really do anything to help me. He tries.

But, I’ve found a few things that do help me when I’m having an attack, so I thought I’d share them in case they might help you:

• as soon as I feel the pain coming on, despite how nauseated I am, I take 2 extra-strength ibruprophen — these tend to lessen the attack, and ease the pain somewhat
• I try to stay calm and breath through the pain (It actually does help, because when the pain gets severe in waves, I usually panic a bit)
• laying on my left side bundled tightly in a blanket in the fetal position helps
• having the tv on, even if I can’t really hear it properly, takes my mind off of the pain to a degree
• sometimes, walking up and down the stairs helps with the severity of some of the pain

From the reading I’ve done, my attacks are pretty typical:

• nausea (and sometimes vomiting)
• pain (shooting for me) from just under my ribcage on the right/middle side of my breastbone that takes my breath away
• pain between my shoulder blades
• belching
• fever and chills

I’m pretty much at the end of my rope with this. I’m now at work, and I’ve only had two hours of sleep. It’s going to be a difficult day concentrating, I’m certain.

YOUR TURN: Have you had gallbladder issues? Or, have you had the surgery to have it removed? If you did have it diagnosed, did you have to wait for a full-on attack to get it resolved? I’d love to hear from you.

Last week, my uncle died of cancer. He was only 71, and he was one of those men that always had a smile on his face. He was a really spectacular man who loved his kids, grandkids, and family. I wish I had known him for much longer, but as many of you know, I only met my birth family five years ago.

Last weekend, I attended the funeral in Picture Butte, and it was a really hard day. Hard for many reasons – it was heartbreaking to watch the rest of the family grieve, sad for me because I wish I had had an opportunity to develop a relationship with my birth family, and Jon, much earlier in life (nothing I can do about it, I know… but it’s still a loss that I need to deal with), and the day was a reminder of my own Dad’s passing from this horrible disease just a few years ago.

But, the day was also a reminder to build on the family relationships I have (both my birth family and adoptive) – and to hold them close. My brother and I don’t see each other, or talk nearly enough. It’s so hard being so far away from him, Diane and Ashleigh… But, I only have one brother/sister-in-law, and one neice, and I need to see them more.

And, I also want to spend more time with my birth cousins, and uncle/aunt that live closer by. They are truly awesome people, and I’m lucky to have them as my family.

My heart goes out to Dennis (and Heather and the kids), JJ (and Kim), and Vince (and Alison and the kids) who lost their Dad and Afi, and Barney/Deb who lost a brother. Know that I’m thinking of you all, and I’m here if you need me for anything at all.

Hold your family and friends that are like family close… Life is shorter than you think.

xoxo

A blonde walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the Loan officer. She says she’s going to Europe on business for two weeks and needs to borrow $5,000.

The blonde replies, “Where else in New York City can I park my Car for two weeks for only $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return?”
—————–

This would work for Calgary parking, too, by the way! We are nearly as expensive as New York… Paying as much as $600 a month for an underground, heated spot. $300 a month is a steal, and hard to find. It’s crazy!

I’m really looking forward to some time off this weekend — Barry is finally taking the whole weekend off, too, so I’m not sure what we’ll get up to yet. It’s actually pretty unusual that we have no plans for the whole weekend. Perhaps we’ll do a last-minute weekend get-away. We’ll see.

YOUR TURN: What are you looking forward to, this weekend?

Hey kids! How are you?

Feels like forever since I’ve posted – so I thought I’d update you on a few things.

First up, like Raul posted about today, I’m pleased to say, I’ve developed some awesome relationships now in Calgary. But, I’ve also narrowed my circle of friends. I guess it’s inevitable as we get older – It’s not important to me to count close friends on both hands and feet, and still have some left-over. In fact, it’s just the opposite for me, now. I’d rather have a few close friends that I can count on, and know that I can trust them with anything.

I have that again, here in my new home city. It’s really nice. Clearly, those close friendships make life worth living to the fullest. Thanks guys, you know who you are… I may not be able to see you every week, but, I know when I need to talk, or want to share something exciting, you are just a phone call away, and I hope you know that you can count on me for the same.

On another note! I can’t wait to go to Vegas to celebrate our 2nd anniversary in a little over a month! Can you believe it’s been two years since our wedding day? And with that of course, two years since we’ve been in this city? I remember that March 15th, 2010 like it was yesterday. The time has flown by since then. Wow!

It’s been a while since we’ve had out of town guests, but we’re looking forward to two separate visits from family and friends coming up this month! I love having houseguests…

And finally, there’s a girls trip shaping up to be a fabulous time in just over a month! I’m super excited about that – If somehow you missed the invite, and want to come, email or call me, and we’d be delighted to have you along if you can make it! So far, there’s 7 of us going, I believe. Should be an awesome time! Let me know…

YOUR TURN – What’s new? I can’t wait to hear about what’s coming up in your life!

Were you Born to Style? Many top stylists recall childhood years spent paying close attention to what does (and doesn’t) look stylish. If you’ve grown up with a preternatural sense of awareness as to what hair styles and colours look best with certain face shapes and skin tones, then it is possible that you have been Born to Style.

Stylists are happy in their work. No other profession allows you to make good money in such a people-based environment with flexible hours and glamorous perks. Read about Taylor Smits, a top hair stylist in Vancouver and graduate of Aveda Institute Canada’s Vancouver hair school. Since graduating, Smits not only brings in a six-figure income, he travels to world-class fashion events to style and loves every minute of his profession, particularly being involved in the personal transformations of his customers.

Aveda Institute Canada is running a hair school scholarship video contest for five Institutes: Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria and Winnipeg!

If you feel you were Born to Style, you could win your education (that’s enrollment in Aveda’s 1-year hair program, to be exact) worth upwards of $10,000.

STEP ONE: MAKE A VIDEO

Your submission should be a two-minute video that explains why you were Born to Style. Get creative! Highlight your style sense, charisma and your ability to work hard.

STEP TWO: UPLOAD & SHARE

Visit Aveda Institute’s hair school scholarship video contest for the contest details. After you’ve uploaded your entry, share with friends and family online to garner more views. Remember, if you were Born to Style you want the whole world to know!

STEP THREE: HAIR SHOWDOWN

A panel of judges will pick their five favourite contestants from each city. Then a hair showdown will be held, where the five video winners will be challenged to create a winning look in person on a live model. A panel of judges will watch and choose the final winner of the scholarship. Full details can be found on the Aveda scholarship website.

VIDEOS WILL BE JUDGED ON THE FOLLOWING:

• Boldness and clarity of artistic vision
• Originality and creativity
• Demonstrates candidate is fashion forward and understands the Aveda mission
• Overall Impression

Last day to submit a video is March 31st, 2012 at 11:59:59 a.m. ET

Hi kids! Where do I start? I’m sitting on a beach in Roatan, Honduras! I still have to pinch myself saying that. This won’t be a long blog entry because I’m on my iPhone, and missing the beach time, so more to come from the iPad on board the Crown Princess tonight or tomorrow.

The highlights…

…kissing a stingray in Grand Cayman

…enjoying family time on our second leg of the trip

…having quality time with my guy, despite 8 of us traveling together

…waverunner riding to snorkeling adventure on reefs in the middle of the Caribbean Sea

…sun, sand (mmm rum punch) and ziplining in Roatan

Suffice to say, we are thoroughly relaxed and having a fab time! I can’t believe we still have two weeks of vacation left!

YOUR TURN: What have you been up to, this week?

Ps: happy birthday to my baby brother… Glad I got you on the phone today!

Pps: thanks so much for your comments – good to know people are still reading my updates!

Holy crap, how did that happen? It’s day 7 on board the cruise ship Oasis, and this is our second consecutive day at sea.

Now that I have some time, I’ll write about the things I couldn’t in port with limited time and battery power on my cell phone…

My favourite day so far has to be our excursion in St. Thomas – as I mentioned earlier, we did a power snorkel trip to Turtle Island, which is about an hour’s sail from the cruise ship dock.

We immediately boarded a “pirate ship” and motored over to the island in about 45 minutes, where we got quick instruction on how to best put on our masks, and use our floatation devices (not really required in such incredibly highly salted water… it was effortless to float without adding any air in the vests.

Barry and I elected to add on power turbines to our adventure, and were a little let down that they didn’t have enough machines to go around for those that had paid for them. We ended up sharing ours between the two of us, but as it turned out, it felt really good to kick about rather than power through the water with these hand held props. We definitely needed the exercise after the last few days of indulgences, not to mention the rum punch we partook in after we got back on board the boat.

We ended sailing most of the way back, and enjoyed the sun, the rum, and the great tunes. It was a lovely day…

St. Maarten was great too, although not much to write about there. We ended up finding this cute little bar at the end of the beach (see the previous post for the photo) and enjoyed a bucket of Desperato (tequila flavoured beer found down in these parts) and then decided to make our way over to the French side of the island. Uck. I wish we hadn’t done that, actually. Because of a traffic issue, what should have been a 20 minute cab ride ended up taking over an hour longer than that – And, only to get over there to discover the tags for everything in Euro, and crazy-out-of-this-world prices. By the time we got there, we literally had half an hour to walk around before finding another cab back. Oh, did I mention, the first cab had no air conditioning? In one of the most humid and hot places on the planet? Ya… Not the best choice, but we can say we did it, anyhow.

I’m currently enjoying a glass of Lindeman’s on the balcony while my hair soaks up some much-needed conditioner.

As I think about this past week, I am really looking forward to getting on board our next ship, the Crown Princess, where we’ll be meeting up with both sets of parents, and Annette and Lee (friend’s of Penney and Bob’s from Austrailia) – The last two weeks with them will be awesome! Besides, I’m looking forward to being on a more conventional cruise ship, if you can believe it, as we have barely seen any shows on this ship due to scheduling fiascos, and the inability to see a show without pre-booking them (and if you miss it, too bad, you lose). I don’t like that part of cruising with 5600 other people, that I can tell you.

I do want to mention, that Barry and I have really enjoyed meeting some awesome fellow Canadians on board – we’ve been sitting with a couple from Winnipeg (one of whom is currently still in radio) Patty and Curtis, and a really nice couple from Ontario, Louise and Elliott (who is in the cruise business) and finally the first couple we met at the terminal, Eves and Karen.

Time to rinse out my hair! Hope you have been enjoying my updates!

Hi guys! Today we are in St. Maarten – the Dutch side! It’s been an incredible week so far, but my phone has almost no charge I’ll write more later – but highlights include power snorkeling (and a whole lot of rum punch!) in St Thomas, lots of sun bathing on our balcony (gasp, I’m actually getting a tan!) and yummy $1.50 beers at both ports we have had beer at.

I’m loving the ship, but funny enough very much looking forward to Princess with our family next week.

I won’t be near Internet until Saturday now, as we are at sea for the next two days… so a very happy birthday to Toni in a couple days! xoxo

YOUR TURN: How’s things with you?

Hello everyone! It’s great to be in the sun!!!! So hot. And, my skin is loving the humidity as much as my hair is not.

The Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas is awesome but definitely not your patent’s cruise liner. The promenade is more like a nightclub with music and festive lights playing all day and night. It’s a party, and everyone is invited!

I’m writing this post on my phone from Nassau, our first port. We are having a great time and getting lots of sun and walking in. At the moment, I’m enjoying (I use that term loosely) a local beer at a cafe on one of the side streets. It’s awful, and I’m loving it.

I went to show Barry the Straw Market, but it burned down! The photo above is all that’s left from the building that used to reside in front of that street. Oh well, every stall has the same trinkets, beads and tshirts so we aren’t missing much.

Time to finish this beer and head back to the ship… We leave this port early today – 2:30.

Good morning! I’m sitting in the Port of Everglades, waiting until 11:30 to board the largest cruise ship in the world, Oasis of the Seas. It’s been an adventurous trip already.

The flights were easy, and it didn’t feel like seven hours in the air that it was. That said, the second flight was full of clueless old people that were obviously going in the same direction as we were.

Standing in line for our cab to the hotel last night, the clueless old people continued the theme with a comedy show starring two ancient people – one old woman who kept losing her shoes outside the cab and her husband who three times, got back out of the cab to put her shoes (and her purse) back in the cab. The cab door finally closed 10 minutes later, with what was an obviously frustrated cabbie pulling away in a huff.

Barry and I elected to grab a taxi instead of a shuttle, thinking it would be faster. Um. That would be a negative. He had looked up the hotel address while we were waiting for luggage to see if they had a free shuttle, and then used that address to give to the cab driver. When we arrived at what looked like a two star hotel, (I had booked a 2.5 star through Priceline, but hey, close enough right?) they didn’t have a reservation for us! Oh crap.

Turns out there’s more than one “Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort” – who knew? Oh, and don’t let the “Resort” part fool you. By the time we arrived, two cab rides and $45 lighter wallets, it was anything but a resort. Priceline? I won’t be booking with you again. I have now promised Barry he can pick the hotels for a while.

We got to the port way early, which is the way I like it, because we have a whole lot of running around booking entertainment to do (because I neglected to book it in time before we left – I’m sure most of the cruise vacationers on the Oasis have already booked, so damn… Oh well).

So, here I sit. It’s 10:30am, and we are about to board. We’ve already met some really nice people we’ll catch up with later for a drink – they are from Ontario, and seem like our type of people.

YOUR TURN: How’s your Saturday going?

Goooood morning kids! How is everyone this fine (and snowy for us Calgarians) morning?

Me? I’m fabulous! First off, I want to say a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful husband… We had a great meal with awesome friends last night. Barry loves “meat on a stick” at Bolero – a Brazilian BBQ place – so I mostly surprised him with an evening there last night. He seemed to enjoy it. I hope this is another incredible year for him.

The countdown is definitely on now, as our cruise is only a couple of days away. We’re very much looking forward to some sun after the recent weather insanity here. Hurricane force winds over the weekend that actually blew our fence door off, combined with a severe winter storm blowing through today, gives us all the reason we need to be counting the minutes down, now! Let’s see, that would be…

The primary reason for this blog post today, however, is a question I’d like to pose to you… Have you had much luck with sneaking alcohol aboard Princess or Royal Caribbean cruise ships? I have done it in the past, but I haven’t attempted it in recent years. Previously, I’d wrap a couple of bottles of wine in my checked baggage (which, quite frankly, I rarely actually check… I drag it on board to avoid dealing with the porters) but this time, for both cruises, I am going to be checking my bags, and attempting to circumvent the high wine prices on board by bringing my own bottles (just a couple) to consume in my room.

So YOUR TURN – Let’s hear your stories!

ps: I can’t believe these cruises will bring me up to 15 in the count, and this is the first time I’ve left absolutely everything (including excursion bookings) until the very last minute. I hope that delay doesn’t come back and bite me in the ass because we miss out on the excursions, or night entertainment we want! (Oasis actually allows you to pre-book the evening entertainment before you board, but we missed it by 1 day… darnit)

Hello from work, everyone!

I’m taking a few minutes over my lunch hour to reach out and give you a quick update.

I. Love. My. New. Job!

Okay, yes, I’m unbelievably busy… But, I’m learning a ton, and I’m actually talking to — and giving advice to — clients! As some of you know, that was my biggest issue in my previous position. I didn’t feel like I was making a difference in any of my client’s lives, and I was not allowed to talk about my opinion whatsoever.

What a difference that makes.

The timing of my upcoming trip for nearly a month is actually better than I thought. We leave in a few days, and it’ll be a much-needed rest from the amount of learning I’m doing every day. Also, December seems to be a slower month in this position, which is good… I get back just in time for tax season! But, working with the Commercial group means that tax season is not as hectic as on the personal side of this role. I’m thankful for that.

In other news…

I can’t believe it’s been four years this week that my Dad passed away. I was on a cruise to the Med at the time, and that was probably the lowest, darkest time for me in my life. My, how things have changed. I still think of my Dad nearly every day, but, I’ve let go of the deep sadness I felt for so long after his death. Dying is something we will all have to do at some point, so I’m choosing to remember the good times I enjoyed with my Dad, and celebrating what he brought to my life.

So, I’ll leave you with a question!

YOUR TURN: What’s been going on in your life, lately? Catch me up!!

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” – Henry Miller

Early this morning, I woke up with a start. I looked around my dark bedroom, and reality hit me right in the face… I’m not immortal, no one is. One day, I’ll be looking around just like this, and that will be my last moment. And then, I will no longer exist.

How frightening, hey?

It’s rare that my mortality really occurs to me. Is that weird? Of course, there are obvious times, like when my Dad died, that I was forced to really think about it, and realize how thankful I am that I came to be (and that my birth parents allowed me to have life). But, how often do I actually consider that one day, my conciousness will actually no longer “be”? Not often enough, I realize.

I guess that’s also the downside to not having faith in the presence of a “heaven” or everlasting life with a soul. But, I also think that forces me to live the moments, because in the grand scheme of my life, those moments really aren’t all that plentiful, so I try to enjoy each one of them.

That Henry Miller quote above is one I’ve quoted here on the blog in the past, but I haven’t *really* been living my life that awarely, obviously. I think this is a great wake-up call, though. I’m going to try harder to live more awarely, and be thankful for the life that I have. Because, it’s pretty darn awesome to be alive!

YOUR TURN: Do you ever pinch yourself into awareness, and realize how short your life really is? Does your faith (if any) help you to deal with your mortality?

What the hell… It’s FRIDAY already? Why can’t my work weeks fly by as quickly as this week off has?

It’s been a busy week of mostly studying. My brain feels full and foggy at this point. I think I’m done studying for today. At 4pm. Oh well. I’ll be bringing my study guide with me on our roadtrip this weekend (have I mentioned how much I love SeeWhyLearning‘s study guides? They are absolutely awesome for financial learning).

Tonight, B and I are off to enjoy dinner with @JeffMik and Paula – We haven’t seen them in a while, so it’ll be nice to catch up. And, since I’m currently back on my weight loss kick, CHARcut is a perfect place for a great meal without worrying about the food choices! Thankfully, I’ve only got 14 pounds to my goal of 150, so little slip ups here and there won’t be the end of the world this time around, although I’m trying my best to stay on clean eating and low calories.

YOUR TURN: What are you looking forward to, this weekend? Whatever you get up to, I hope it’s awesome!