Cheeeeeseburger

So yesterday on facebook I hear that the Cheeseburger  Birds are back in the maritimes!  I haven't heard them out here in Calgary so it makes me sad. Technically, they are mountain chickadees (or the Carolina Wren also has a similar call but they are not as common here) so  you would think that they would be out in Calgary where there are mountains rather than on PEI where there are no mountains.  Then again, I don't think I have ever heard them IN Calgary.  I think I remember hearing them a morning we were in Banff though so maybe they don't like the city.  These birds are a real sign of spring for me though so now I'm a bit sad that we haven't heard them yet.

My new favourite commercial...

Because of the Black Keys song....love Tighten Up by the Black Keys! My favourite song! But pretty sad I couldn't get tickets to the show in June! They sold out in under an hour:(

I'm a bad blogger!

Who lets just anyone blog?  There should probably be a rule that if you don't blog at least once a month you are not allowed to blog anymore but I figure in my case it is okay because no one reads my stuff anyways.

So yesterday was a fantastical day - that's my great word of the day!  It was absolutely beautiful out (well it was +8 or something but in February that's pretty nice), I finally found time to take my shoes to the shoe guy and he fixed the heel for free in less than 30 seconds - yay for the shoe guy!- and I got two pieces of mail at work and they both came with pink paperclips on them!  I LOVE PINK!!!!!!  Then at the end of the day my friend Chris told me about how Rocky Mountain Soap Company was having a deal where they would swap any old lipgloss you had for a brand new one of theirs for free so that you would try theirs. 

Yay!   So I swapped my Victorias Secret lipgloss which I hate because it's too sticky for a lip plump cinnamon lip gloss from Rocky Mountain Soap!  YAY!!!  So up until 4:15 the day was just wonderful!!!!!

Then some drunk idiot at Centre Street thought it a good idea to get pinned under a train and shut down the train service for hours doing rush hour.  I doubt that it was his idea really but wow people are stupid.  It seems that there is always someone not paying attention on the platforms and falls off or thinks that they can outrun a train that weighs 42 tonnes per car (and there are 3 of them) and then you have to add the 162 people per car that are squished into there so it's not a light vehicle despite its name of "Light Rail" Train.

Anyways, so the trains are shut down at rush hour and people are stuck.  So Chris says she will drive me home from her car which is 55 blocks away but we can take the bus.  But after waiting for the bus at numerous stops we figured out there was no possibility we were getting on the bus that would take us close to her car.  So we started walking, and walking, and walking.....

Walked all the way down to her car.  about 5.2kms away.  Luckily it was nice out of course but the snow had been melting all day so our feet were soaked from all the puddles.  Figured it was our workout for the day!

So last night, satisfied I didn't have to go to the gym, Nicole called and asked if I wanted to watch a movie.  We went down to blockbuster and rented Exit Through the Giftshop:

What a great movie! I didn't know much about street art or Banksy, just that he was some guy who put pictures up here and there and no one knew who he was. Was one of those thinker movies though. A bit in appreciating street art and the difference between street art and graffiti and a bit in knowing the difference between doing something for money and doing something because you love it.

While watching the movie though, we stuffed our faces with homemade nachos, guess that cancels out my walk huh?

Tonight, I am heading to the Atlantic Trap & Gill to get a taste of home. Wonder if the band will know Barrett's Privateers.

This diet thing is not going so well....

So in an effort to fit into my bathing suit in time for my Mexico vacation next month, I have decided to do the diet and exercise thing.  I'm really terrible at dieting though as I love food too much and I love food that's really bad for me!  I am doing ok at the exercise thing but really really terrible at the dieting.

One of my first decisions was to give up my wine....this is not easy for me as I LOVE my wine!  No specific kind of wine, just wine in general. I have only been wine free now for 8 days and it has been killing me.  Ok so it's not really killing me but it's hard.  It's especially hard when I'm trying to get out and meet new potential dates and the first idea for a meeting spot is going to be going for drinks.  The second option is going for coffee and I HATE coffee so....do I go for "drinks" and have water?  Seems sort of inappropriate.

So at home in an effort to not have to put away my wine glasses and the experience of sipping on wine I have started drinking my diet ginger ale out of  a wine glass.  It's not bad :)  My friend Jason had an interesting comment to this:

 The nicorette for wine.  Figured out that part.  Now what else can there be with the diet fix?  Last night I was on my way home from the gym and I was starving from not eating anything since 11 am and it was 7:00 p.m. and there is a Papa John's pizza next door so of course I ordered:

 mmmmmm  cheesesticks!!  Or garlic fingers as they call them on the east coast.  Yum.  I ordered a small but it is still about 8-10" and of course I sat down and ate it all!!!  But at least when Nicole called to ask if I wanted McDonalds a few hours later I was too stuffed to ask for anything.

Today a new craving..... CRAVE Cupcakes.  My friend Keith turned me on to Crave cupcakes last year when he brought me 6 and I have stayed away from them except for one day when they had them at the office (but that was for charity so totally allowed right?) but I have been really NEEDING one.  Actually a specific one:

YUM!!!!  It's fantastic and I love it!  Is there a nicorette for cupcakes?

Was feeling Christmasy tonight....

So I drew you a Christmas tree :)

You're welcome!!  Merry Christmas! (I think it was the rum and eggnog today that made me feel better about Christmas)

Pretty Sure Christmas = Fat

So it's almost Christmas and I've been doing really good at getting to the gym and/or doing Zuzana's Workouts I have even stopped eating my regular amount of junk food and now eat more vegetables.  You would think that would be a good thing with a Mexican vacation and a Christmas holiday with my sister who is pretty much the best baker ever!  But no....I am gaining weight rather than losing it.  I initially tried to tell myself that it is muscle but really the jiggle is all still jiggly so I really need to let that dream die.  I'm not exactly a Christmas person.  Not really in the spirit this year at all  No tree...I have a few wintery decorations:

And I brought Melton out of his summer storage (his name is Melton - it says so on his tag):

but that is as Christmasy as I am getting this year as I'm not looking forward to the Christmas weight gain. 

My New Years Resolution is already in place.....lose some weight!  I have decided that the gym is going to be a MUST 2-3 days a week and I need to lose the wine until my trip in February.  So no alcohol from New Year's Day until February 19.  That is the initial goal.  Will most likely have to give it up from February until June as well if I expect to fit into any of my summer clothes. 

It's just depressing, getting older.  I used to have fantastic metabolism.  Guess this is what happens at 30!

So Pre-New Years resolution is just to not go crazy with my sister's baked goods next week!  For anyone who has ever had my sister's baking - that is a definite challenge.  I would take any other advice offered though.

Is that a warm brown or a golden brown?

So tonight was my very first attempt at home hair colouring. I think. It was a bad decision on my part but it really isn't terrible. No more grey! but my hair is a weird reddish brown colour instead of the pretty chestnut brown that the girl on the front of the box had. I'm also upset that those little pieces of fake hair that they show you as a color sample are deceiving. It is obviously not human hair and I'm not sure what colour they started with. So after staring at all the boxes of colour at the store for what felt like an hour but was really only about 15 minutes, I decided for a first timer I should go with a semi-permanent colour. That narrowed. My choices to only 3 brands. This is a big relief to someone who is indecisive. I decided on this stuff (mainly, I think, because the girl on the box was pretty and the box had pink on it and I'm drawn to pink):

Now I know very little about colouring hair.  I know you can't dye blonde hair black or black hair blonde without going green or orange.  I know that if you are working with reds and blondes that you have to take the red foils out first because it will turn the blonde pink.  I also know that my hair grows far too fast to pay $160 every time I get overwhelmed with grey.  I don't know if colouring hair at home is a good choice or if some things are better left to the professionals.

I figured I would make less mess with a cream version but in reality I don't know if that's right or wrong because my bathroom looks like someone took a dog in who had just rolled in a mud puddle and let it shake itself off 5 or 6 times. 

The tub (where I chose to rinse the color) got the worst of it and I totally don't feel like cleaning the bathtub right now.  Hopefully it doesn't stain. 

So, in the end, my hair is a weird shade of reddish brown that is obviously not natural but doesn't look totally horrible.  They should totally have a professional colourist standing in the hair colour aisle at every drug store to tell people what colour their hair will turn.  This was not my ideal shade.  On the positive side, it was only $12 rather than $160; took 1/2 hour instead of 2 hours (the box said 10 minutes but I don't think they account for beginners); and the little bottle of conditioner they throw in with it is absolutely fantastic.  I've paid more than $12 for conditioner before so that is my justification.  Now if only I can find the justification to buy the awesome $300 boots I saw at Browns this week......sigh.