CAMPING -- BLOG OFF FOR BREAST CANCER

I love to go camping. I love the whole idea of escaping the city and getting away from it all. No TVs, no computers and no telephones. Just peace and quiet for as long as you choose to stay. I only have two rules when I go camping and they are as follows:1. NO BEARS, none whatsoever. None of this telling me they don't ever come around or only one is sighted a year. It doesn't matter, it's a rule and it stays that way. Chris broke this rule one time and I nearly killed him. There is only ONE exception to this rule and that is if it is The Berenstain Bears, because let's face it, they are cool.2. There HAS to be a working toilet within walking distance of the campsite.
After that I am up for anything. I love the outdoors and I love the simplicity camping can bring into your life. Call me crazy, because I like a running toilet but at least I am not one of those girls who has to cart all her makeup and hair products with her when she goes camping. One of the reasons I look forward to camping is so I can leave all that stuff behind and not worry about it for a few days.

The fire is the main comfort of the camp, whether in summer or winter, and is about as ample at one season as at another. It is as well for cheerfulness as for warmth and dryness. ~Henry David Thoreau

One of my favorite things about camping is the fire. I love to sit around the fire. I could sit there for hours and stare at the glowing orange of the fire and listening to the crackling of the wood. I love the peacefulness of it. The fire serves so many purposes. Obviously there is the whole keeping you warm thing, but aside from that how else would we survive an entire weekend on hot dogs and marshmallows if we didn't have a fire to cook them on? What about s'mores? They just wouldn't be possible without the fire. I remember camping in 1997 with some friends from high school and sending the boys to make us s'mores at all hours of the night and bring them to our tents. I also remember us all thinking it would be fun to go for a swim in the lake at like midnight--even though it wasn't even June yet. If you could only know how cold that water was. Me and the rest of the girls spent the rest of the night in front of the fire drying our hair. Perhaps the midnight swim wasn't the brightest of ideas, but thank God for the campfire to dry us off that night.

A lot of people who are hardcore campers make fun of me and tell me I am not a real "camper" because I refuse to camp in the mountains or in the middle of nowhere. I like to go to a campground where there are other people around, and where my only social interaction during the trip is not some bear or wild cat who attacks me as I pee behind a tree. That just does not sound like a good time to me--seriously--it doesn't. I have been afraid to camp in the mountains for as long as I can remember. There was no experience that I went through that made me scared. It is just a general thing. Big ass wild animals live out there, so why would I want to go? And yes I know, before you waste your time I will say it for you. Bear attacks are rare and as long as you keep your food away, etc you will be fine. I know this, but it still doesn't change my mind any. I get that it is rare for a bear to walk up to your tent, rip a hole in it and drag you off in the middle of the night. But attacks do happen, and my luck I will be that one person it happens to. Therefore, I figure if I leave them alone and stay away from their place of residence then I will be fine. My favorite camping trip that I have ever been on is when Chris and I went camping on the Oregon Coast for a week. We stayed at Beverly Beach State Park which is almost right on the ocean. The Oregon Coast is among my favorite places and if you have ever been there or seen it in pictures you know why. Our campground was fairly big, yet quiet. We were happy to have found a site surrounded by trees and it was almost as if it was our own little place. In the evenings when it got dark, we would go for a walk along the beach and enjoy the views of the stars and listen to the crashing of the waves that we couldn't quite see anymore. All along the beach you could see bonfires and hear people talking and laughing. At our own campsite Chris would make us a fire and we would sit around for hours talking, drinking cheap beer and roasting marshmallows.

The first night we were there it was pretty late when we arrived and already very dark. We carefully unloaded the car, and used the headlights to light the way as we set up the tent. After everything from the car was unloaded we decided we would lite a fire and jut relax for a few hours before we climbed into out tent for the night. Chris was in the tent changing when he called out to me to ask me to grab the lantern from the car. Now this lantern was not one of those new-fangled battery powered plastic ones, this thing was the real deal. Old school with fragile glass and even more fragile mantels. The kind that basically turn to ash at the slightest touch. There I was, lantern in hand walking back towards the picnic table. Well, I didn't make it that far. As I was walking back I completely forgot about the cement block in front of our parking spot, and I tripped over it and went flying through the air. I landed almost face first on the cement, scraping up my arms, my elbow and my hands. The lantern did an acrobatic show of its own, flying through the air and hitting the ground and bouncing back up off of it with the loudest bangs and clangs you could imagine. It was almost midnight--you could have heard a pin drop and there I was making all the racket I possibly could. Once Chris realized that for the most part I was okay he could not stop laughing, and after a while I saw the humor in it as well and could not stop laughing myself. Miraculously I was more damaged than the lantern was, not a scratch on it. Tell me, how does that happen? How do I fling a glass lantern through the air, have it come crashing down on the cement and somehow it doesn't break? Whatever the reason it certainly gave us a good laugh that night. Although I was feeling a little sore and stuff from my fall when I woke up the next morning.

Lets talk about raccoons for a minute. Now, people would have you believe that raccoons are cute and therefore they are harmless. Let me tell you people, this is just not true. Have you ever encountered a raccoon? They are frightening little creatures and the thought of their claws scratching at my face gives me the shakes. Like at any campground--you will always have raccoons. We were very careful to keep all food and garbage away in the hopes they would stay away from our campsite. One morning we woke up after it had been pouring down rain all night to find muddy raccoon paw prints all over our picnic table cover and our camp kitchen. Little buggers had made quite the mess in search for a midnight snack. The next night they got pretty brave when we were sitting by the fire and they made their way towards the picnic table. Chris ended up scaring them off, but for a while they just stood there staring us down and hoping we would drop something they could snatch up.

Chris and I have not been camping for a long time. We are both hoping this summer will offer some opportunities to camp in some of the beautiful places out here in New England. We have yet to take Belle camping. That should prove to be very interesting as she doesn't like things with four legs so much and I am not sure she realizes that she would have no chance against a raccoon.

If you hate camping because you have been and it just isn't for you then I respect that. But for those of you who have never been and say you don't like it you need to try it at least once. I have a feeling that you might just like it.

What I like about camping is you can get really dirty. Either you're all by yourself, so no one else sees you, or everyone you're with is just as dirty as you are, so nobody cares. ~Anonymous

This is a post for the Blog Off for Breast Cancer. Feel free to click on any of the links on the right to check out the other blogs involved. Also, if you'd like to make a donation to Courtney, please click on the banner above.

A Match Made in Heaven

I apologize for the long gap in between posts this past week. In my defense I had a friend here from jolly old England and we were out gallivanting all weekend long. We had a great time but you will all just have to wait to hear about it because today is blog off day.

This past week was the suckiest island vote off yet. Carly from With A Turn And A Twist She Gets Her Wish was sent packing and I think that sucks. Even though she is out of the blog off you should really check out her blog. I really didn't think Carly was going to go this week and was very shocked to find out she had been ousted. I have lost my blog off sidekick:( Last week was crappy too when we had to say goodbye to Erin from Blaaahhhg. I suppose that is the name of the game and since I have survived this long I should really get to working on my post.

REGRETS -- BLOG OFF FOR BREAST CANCER

Regret is an intelligent (and/or emotional) dislike for personal past acts and behaviors. Regret is often felt when someone feels sadness, shame, or guilt after committing an action or actions that the person later wishes that he or she had not done.

"What Am I Supposed To Do About It Now? Past Regrets And Long Laments They Find Me Somehow, What Am I Supposed To Do About It Now? What Have I To Do But Fall Down?" --Jennifer Knapp

Regret is a pretty heavy burden to walk around this life with, and yet it is human for us all to have felt regret at some time in our lives.

With each week that has passed in this blog off I have found myself wanting to dig deeper than the week before and have something worthwhile for you all to read. Sitting here thinking of this word is hard for me. Mostly because when I do I think of my mum and all the time I lost with her.

When my mum first had breast cancer I was only 12 years old, maybe a little younger. Being so young, I didn't really understand a lot of what was happening. I just assumed the doctors would make her better and she would be here forever. She did get better and for 6 or so more years she was here. But when I was 18 her cancer returned and this time it was terminal. I was working at camp that summer when she was diagnosed. I could have made the decision to leave camp and go home and be with her. But I didn't, mostly because she encouraged me not to; she wanted me to enjoy my summer and be with my friends. And so I did. Sometimes when I look back on that decision, I regret it. I regret not spending those 2 months with her instead of 2 hours away at camp. When the summer was over I spent a lot of time with her. September and October of that year were times in my life I will never forget because I think that even though none of us said it out loud, we all knew those were our final months together as a family. When she was finally too sick to be at home anymore, we moved her to the Palliative Care Unit at the Grey Nun's Hospital in Edmonton. Looking back I know I should have spent so much more time in that hospital than I did. It wasn't because I didn't want to be with her, it was because it was too hard for me. Call it selfish--in some ways it was. But I never liked hospitals, even before she got sick. The smell, the white walls and floors. I was scared of being there because at the time it felt like I was admitting defeat, like I was willing to sit back and accept what was happening and I wasn't. And so I found excuses not to go, I had to work, I had school stuff to do, I have a birthday party to go to. Don't get me wrong, I spent time there and I cherish every moment I did but sometimes I feel like it wasn't enough and I regret that. Before she got sick I regret not spending more time with her shopping, having coffee and going for lunch. There are days now when I ache for that connection and I regret not enjoying it more when I had it.

Why say we don't have regrets in our life when we do? Is it that we are afraid that by admitting we have regrets we are saying we are weak? The defining moment of those regrets however is how we choose to deal with them, accept them and move on. There will always be a part of me that regrets not spending more time with my mum when she was still alive. But it is what it is and none of that matters anymore. She new I loved her and I know she loved me. She knew me better than anyone so I am sure she knew why being there with her at the hospital was so hard for me. She knew my heart was in the right place and she knew I did the best I could.

I have regrets in this life, that's no secret. The way I handled my mums sickness is not the only one. But what I also have is the wisdom from those experiences and how I handled them to help me through the next bump in the road. This is a post for the Blog Off for Breast Cancer. Feel free to click on any of the links on the right to check out the other blogs involved. Also, if you'd like to make a donation to Courtney, please click on the banner below.

SNL - Weekend Update: Whitney Houston (05/19/07)

For those of you who have never seen Maya Rudolph do her Whitney Houston impression I promise this will make you laugh. It made me cry I laughed so hard. I love it!

Weight Loss

I have been getting asked a lot lately about my "secrets" to losing weight. The honest truth is I don't have any great secrets I can tell you. The key in my opinion is that we all need to find what works for us. I found what works for me, and the greatest thing about it is that it doesn't cost me a thing and I still eat the things I love. I don't feel deprived and I don't feel guilty. It's a win win situation for me.

For those of you who have known me growing up know that I was not a big kid or teenager. In fact I was skinny. I was always able to eat what I wanted, when I wanted and I didn't gain weight. Most of that is probably because I was so active. I don't know when that changed really. I would say that probably over the last 5 years is when I really started to lose track of my weight. Eating fast food became a bad habit, I learned I loved beer and I just stopped exercising. That is just not a good combo. Fast forward to January 2007 and I was like WHOA, as I weighed myself and realized I was at the highest weight I had ever been. The next morning I woke up and said "enough is enough, I don't want to be fat anymore."

I knew right away I was not going to do any crazy diets because if you ask me I think they are all a load of crap. Even Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig was a turn off for me because I knew if I was determined enough I would lose the weight so why pay them to tell me the things I already know. I also have a very supportive husband who I knew would support me whichever way I decided to go with my weight loss. And so I told him my goals, he helped me set up a food journal on our computer through Excel so I would be able to keep track of all I was eating plus the calories. I just simply started making better choices. I limited my calorie intake to 1200-1500 per day and I lost 9 pounds the first week. And now just over 4 months later I have lost almost 40 pounds. I don't think I look like I have really lost weight but I definitely feel it. Obviously my clothes are fitting a little baggier these days. When I exercise I can go for longer and not get as tired as I used to. Everything is getting easier as each day passes and I feel good.
I guess I am "dieting" on some level. I just don't think of it as a diet. I still eat cake if I want to, or treat myself to a donut or whatever. The only difference now is that I make room for it in my calories each day if I want those things. I don't count fat calories or any of that. I simple count the calories in each serving of what I eat and that's that. I drink a lot of water and I drink diet pop. We have gotten in the habit of buying lots of snacks that I won't feel guilty about eating. Those 100 calorie packs are awesome and they come in all different kinds now. Chips a hoy, Oreo, Cheese Nips, Ritz mix, Chex Mix, Cheetos, Doritos and the list goes on. There are all sorts of low calorie or fat free ice cream bars. Jello.....I LOVE JELLO! A sugar free jello cup is only 10 calories. My new favorite thing to have in the evenings is 2 or 3 of them with a couple tablespoons of low fat cool whip (which was Chris's brilliant idea). YUMMY! Less than 100 calories, I love it. The minute I start denying myself the foods I love I know I will fall right off the wagon. So I make it work for me this way and I am happy with it and I am happy with my weight loss. At the end of each week I send my food journal to my mother in law Linda. It helps knowing someone is reading it. It keeps me accountable and she doesn't hesitate to throw encouragement my way or maybe a little reminder that I fell off the wagon a little on a certain day.

The crazy thing for me was learning how much I use to consume calorie wise without even knowing it. I have never been one to sit down and pig out but man those calories can still add up and you don't even realize. Juice was a killer for me, I used to drink so much apple juice everyday without realizing I was probably consuming 6 or 7 hundred calories in a day from it alone. I still drink it, I just buy the light stuff and I don't drink it the way I used to. The other killer for me was seconds. I got into the habit of if something was good I always had seconds even if I didn't really need it. Now I don't take seconds unless I am truly still hungry which usually I'm not. Having a big bowl of salad with every meal definitely helps that.

As far as exercise goes all the walking I do with dogs is a huge plus for me. I am basically getting paid to exercise. He he! Aside from that I do tae-bo at home, and let me tell you I am so not coordinated enough for it. But I do it anyways and I enjoy it.

There you have it, all my secrets. Which were never secrets, and if they were they certainly aren't now. All this talk of food has my tummy reminding me that its time for lunch.

And Then There Were Five.....

Ok so another week gone and I have managed to still be in this blog off. How about that? I was certain I would have been out the first few weeks. But alas, I am still here and feeling the pressure even more each week to post something better than any of the weeks before.

This past week saw Erin from Blaaahhhg voted off the blog-off island. I was sad to see her go as I have enjoyed her posts. There are only 5 of us left now and it's only going to get harder from here on out. I am sure with so few of us left that each of us will dig a little deeper to try and have the best post out there. This could be a photo finish, kids!

If you look to the right you will notice I have put all my previous blog off posts in a drop down bar for those of you who are new to my blog or for those of you who are just slackers and are way behind in your blog reading.

Please click on the banner below and take a minute to check out Courtney's fundraiser page. Her goal is $2200. I am not sure how much she has raised to date but I know this blog off will have her at least $90, she has had a few online donations and she has done some fundraisers at pubs etc. Please think about leaving her even $5 to go towards such an important cause.

Where Do You Like to Eat?

I have been tagged by Carly to share with all of you our culinary experiences here in Boston. Chris and I probably eat out a little more than we should and yet our experiences at the great restaurants in and around this city are slim to none. We tend to get into the habit of going to the same places over and over.

List your top five favourite locations to eat, locally

Anna's Taqueria : I have blogged about Anna's many many times before. And with good reason really. They make the best burritos of anywhere I have ever been. And I have eaten at some great burrito places. The burritos are HUGE and the food in general is cheap. A super burrito and a drink for right around 5 bucks, you just can't go wrong with that. Chris and I could eat there everyday. And I probably would if I wasn't so busy counting calories and losing weight.

The British Beer Company : Chris and I discovered this place about a year ago and it quickly became on of our favorites. The food is good but the ambiance is what I love most about this place. I think Chris would say his favorite part is the selection of beer. They have over 150 beers from all over the world with a large chunk of them being British. They have done their homework in trying to recreate the British pub experience. While I have never been to a real British pub they seem to have done a fantastic job of achieving their goals. Evette and Richard will be here next week from England so I guess we will let them be the judge.

Kiku Yama Teppanyaki Steak House : We went here for Chris's birthday two years ago and it was outstanding. I had never eaten anywhere like this before, it was so much fun and the food was amazing. They cook your food right there in front of you. Of course the Chef puts on a little show for you which makes it even more fun to watch. The overall experience at this place was great. We would probably go back more often if the prices were a little cheaper or if we were a little richer.Vinny T's of Boston : Well I just finished blogging about Vinny T's last night so I won't repeat myself here again except to say that the food is excellent. If you want to an expanded explanation please read my previous post.
Texas Roadhouse : This place is just good. The have everything from steak to chicken to great burgers. The rolls and butter they bring you when you sit down are to die for. Seriously you could eat them ALL day long. For those of you in Seattle the place is a lot like Jimmy Mac's in Renton.

Chili's : Alright, I know this is a "chain" restaurant but I just don't care. I absolutely love Chili's. The food is good, the portions are good and the price is good. Chris and I usually eat at Chili's at least twice a month. The thing I love is that they have a "guiltless" section on the menu, not a lot of choices but the ones they do have I love. I can enjoy supper for right around 500 calories or less and I don't feel guilty about ordering their chips and salsa before hand. Their salsa might be my favorite. That alone might be the real reason I love Chili's so much. I also love the atmosphere at a place like Chili's. And now for my 5 tagees:

Evette - Since you live in England I want to hear about some of your favorites over there
Alison - I am curious to hear what crazy places you Nova Scotians like to eat at
Jodi - I have never been to South Dakota but in case I ever do I hope you can help me out

Kimmie - I am certain I won't be traveling to Grande Prairie anytime soon so this really is just an evil ploy to get you to blog

Cyndi - Cyndi is actually one of my fellow "blog-offers" and I would love to hear what places her and her hubby go out to when they hit the town out there in northern California

Alright kids, I'm hungry so get to work. And yes I cheated and did 6 restaurants but it was only because I love them all so much.

Chris and Evey's night in pictures

As I mentioned in my previous post, Chris and I went out for supper tonight. It has been a while since we have had Italian so we decided to head out and enjoy a meal at Vinny T's. Plus we had a coupon we got in the mail for $10 off a purchase of $30 or more.
So Chris and I got ourselves all prettied up and away we went. We knew being a Saturday night that they would probably be a little on the busy side and we would have a bit of a wait. We figured it was not that big of a deal since we both were looking forward to a great supper. We arrived to find it WAY busier than we had anticipated but we decided the 45 minute wait was no biggie considering we had been waiting all day for it. Plus, on a Saturday night, you are pretty much going to have to wait no matter where you go. So we put our name on the list and headed into the bar. We were happy to find a couple of seats right away. Chris ordered a beer and I got a drink called The Blue Grotto which was a mix of Bacardi Rum, blue Curacao and pineapple juice. Can we just all take a minute to say YUMMY! We sat, talked, enjoyed our drinks and waited for our name to be called. We finished our drinks, paid our tab and waited for our name to be called. We moved from the seats we were in to let the next people along have a seat and waited for our name to be called. After an hour had gone by and our name still hadn't been called Chris went to have a look at where we where sitting on the list. The hostess apologized and it was really no biggie for us at the point considering how busy they were it could be worse. So we waited some more. Finally after another 20 minutes went by Chris went to talk with the hostess again only to find out that OUR table had been given to another "Chris, party of 2" and there we stood waiting for almost another half hour for a table. The hostess felt bad, she really did. She owned up to the fact she made a mistake in not getting the last name of the other Chris to make sure there would be no confusion. She assured as we would be compensated. Sure enough, the General Manager of the restaurant himself came and showed us to our table. He apologized over and over for the mix up and informed us that any appetizers and our first round of drinks would be on the house. SA-WEET!

I am not one for appetizers and stuff these days since I am watching what I eat and counting calories. Tonight however I decided to forget all about that for a few hours and enjoy my night out with my husband. We ordered two appetizers. Two you ask? Yes TWO! We figured they were free, why the heck not? And so we ordered......

Fried Mozzarella Marinara--Thick slices of pan-fried fresh mozzarella. Crisp on the outside, warm on the inside, with homemade marinara sauce

Vinny T’s Fried Ravioli--Jumbo three-cheese ravioli fried until crisp. Served with our homemade marinara

Chris of course ordered himself another beer and I hooked myself up with another blue grotto which incidentally matched my shirt, imagine that!
We had a fantastic supper. I ordered the Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken and broccoli......Chris went ahead and ordered the Fettuccine Carbonara with chicken......All in all, aside from the long wait we had a great supper. The food was fantastic and you cant go wrong with free appetizers and drinks. We have not been to this restaurant enough. The food is excellent and the portions are GINORMOUS! You definitely get your money's worth. We never ended up using the coupon--mainly because we were compensated $26.80 in appetizers and drinks.

We opted out of having dessert since we were so stuffed from supper. We did however make a trip to Starbucks for an after supper coffee. We were also out of coffee for the house and let me tell you, I would not have been a happy camper if I woke up to no coffee in the morning. It would not be pretty. We are home now, enjoying some wine and watching the Mariners beat the Padres. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend. Stay tuned for my 5 favorite places to eat locally. You can thank Carly for this one.

Wild Weekend.......

Ok so not really, but it made you want to read this post didn't it? So It has been raining here for a few days straight. Hopefully that means our grass will actually grow, that would be nice.

Last night we finally got around to watching the movie The Departed. We have had it and Babel here for over a month now (Netflix) and finally got around to watching it last night. We will most likely watch Babel later this evening. I really liked The Departed. The cast was awesome and it was definitely fun to hear them refer to different towns and places around here. For those of you who don't know the movie was based in Boston. Jack Nicholson's character was actually based on and inspired by real life crime boss James J. Bulger who hails from Dorchester, MA. He was a mainstay of organized crime in the Boston region for years and is currently on the FBI's 10 most wanted list where he currently sits at number 4.

Chris and I are off to Vinny T's for supper tonight. Yummy! Which is funny since I just finished reading Carly's blog where she tagged me to blog about my top five favourite locations to eat, locally. Stay tuned for that later.

KISS - BLOG OFF FOR BREAST CANCER

While I was doing some browsing around the web for some inspiration on what to write today I came across the word on Wikipedia. How interesting to find out that there is a scientific word for kissing. Did you know that? Seriously? Cause I didn't. The scientific name for kissing is "osculation." I thought kissing was just...kissing. I had no idea we needed a scientific name for it. It has got me thinking about what other words have scientific names, but that's for another time.

At first when I thought of kiss, my thoughts immediately went to my first kiss with Chris. The first time I met Chris in person (we met online) I was so shy and standoffish--cold as ice as he likes to describe it--he knew there was no way he was going to have any hopes of kissing me. In fact, I am pretty certain that he went home afterwards expecting we would be nothing more than friends. A few weeks later a friend and I went down to Seattle for a few days to hang out with Chris. After a night out drinking Budweiser and eating Chris's moms leftover spaghetti, I was ready to call it a night. As I climbed into bed Chris poked his head in to make sure I was settled ok. We started chatting, and before I knew it he was leaning over informing me that he was going to kiss me. This time I was not cold. I kissed him back and I was very very happy he had kissed me. However, what he said after he kissed me is the one thing that will make me never forget that night. He looks straight into my eyes and says "You taste like Bud!" We both started laughing and I will never ever forget that moment. What a romantic he is ;)
In my research the last few days it has been interesting to me to come across all the different meanings and symbolism of a kiss. One thing that has always struck me as funny is how in a lot of European countries they greet each other with kisses on the cheek. I am not saying I think this is a bad thing necessarily, I am just not sure how I would feel about walking around kissing and being kissed by people I have just met. It just seems weird to me, even if it is only on the cheek. I guess its a good thing I don't live in France and even better I live in Boston where you are more likely to get flipped the bird rather than be kissed. To each their own I suppose.
Public displays of affection are something I am not exactly black or white about. For me it really depends on the situation. I am a little shy around other people when it comes to kissing Chris. For the most part I am a very private person and usually am a little shy about locking lips in public. Now don't get me wrong--a peck here and there is nothing, but chances are I am not about to full on make out with Chris while walking through the mall, sorry folks. Spending time on public transit offers me the opportunity to view all sorts of PDA's. Sometimes it makes me throw up in my mouth a little. I mean really, is it necessary for you to eat your girlfriends face while sitting next to me on the bus? I really don't think it is, and yet it happens anyways. I don't get it. Kissing is a beautiful thing when it is done in the right manner and in the right place. I wish more people realized that.

The worst kiss would have to be receiving a kiss from someone in the mob. Knowing it was their way of saying goodbye to you because you have done something that has earned you a bullet to the head. That just can't be a good feeling. Or what about the ever famous kiss of betrayal from Judas when he kissed Jesus on the cheek to allow the Romans to know he was the one they were to take away to be crucified.

For those of you who have met my dog, you are fully aware of the fact that she is a licker. We tried to break her of that habit early on but it just never took. We came to the realization that she loves to kiss and decided we would just let her be that way. If you don't like it, I apologize. But like the rest of us, her kisses are just a way to show her love and affection, don't hate her for it;)This is a post for the Blog Off for Breast Cancer. Feel free to click on any of the links on the right to check out the other blogs involved. Also, if you'd like to make a donation to Courtney, please click on the banner below.

This and That

Our wireless has been working when it wants to the last few days and that has hampered my blogging status a little bit. We are back up and running right now though, so hopefully it stays that way.

Stay tuned later today for my post for this week in the Blog off for breast cancer organized by Courtney over at Five Second Dance Party. This weeks word is KISS! So be sure to check back later and see what I come up with. I can't promise it will be good, but it will be a post and that's all that matters.

I am WAY overdue for a haircut and a dye job so I am off to do that this evening. Summer is upon us and it is time to chop the hair off and get rid of those few pesky gray unwelcome hairs. I may even post some pictures later if your lucky.

Also, I recieved these few pictures in my email over the past few weeks and I thought I would share them for the sake of all the Flames and Canucks fans who read this blog:)

Farewell to the Heffernans

The King of Queens has been a favorite of ours ever since Chris and I started dating. We watch that show and it is so eerie how similar to them we are. The way they argue, how completely retarded they are. Sometimes it feels like the writers of that show have had a hidden camera in our house and use the footage for inspiration. Last night was the one hour series finale. It is always sad when your favorite shows come to an end. First there was Seinfeld, Friends and Alias and now King of Queens. Next year will see the end of another favorite of ours, Scrubs. Such is life, shows don't last forever but it is still sad to see them go and know that you will never see another new episode. All in all I was happy with how they wrapped the whole thing up. The ending was priceless when after they had skipped ahead to "one year later" Arthur came through the front door claiming "things didn't work out!" Referring to his marriage to Spence's mom and that he would be moving back in.

FRIENDSHIP -- BLOG OFF FOR BREAST CANCER

--Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same--

I have been fortunate in my life to meet some amazing people and have been blessed with friendships that have changed my life. I really don't believe that we could make it through this life without friendship. I always hear people always say that as you get older finding those lifelong friendships become harder and harder to come across. I am not sure I totally believe that. I think maybe we become a little more closed and a little more guarded as we get older. At least that is how it is for me. But I do know that in the last couple of years I have met people that are not only my friends but friends who will be around for the long haul.

I love the kind of friendships that just happen. You know the ones. One day you just meet someone and a simple conversation turns into a friendship that you never saw coming but you are so thankful you now have. Those friendships are the ones that come so naturally to you that you never have to work at it.

Recently I have reconnected with some old friends from way back when. It is an amazing feeling when you realize that they have thought about you just as much over the years as you have them. The test of true friendship in my opinion are the ones that are still there after all that time, after all the separation and years of not speaking you realize that bond never went anywhere in the first place. One of my best friends from my teenage years and I have recently gotten back in touch after almost 12 years. There is no good reason for the years between then and now. We simply grew apart, we lived in different places and led different lives. I have realized though that all those years we were out of touch our friendship was still there. That bond that made us so close in the first place never went away, and I am so excited she is once again a part of my life. Her and her fiancee will be coming here to Boston in a few weeks and I cannot tell you how excited I am to be able to hug her and just be in her presence.

--Those truly linked don't need correspondence. When they meet again after many years apart, Their friendship is as true as ever--

I think too often we take our friendships for granted. I certainly know I am guilty of that at times. Sometimes I think back on friendships that have been lost that i know had I been a little less stubborn that relationship could have been salvaged. But such is life. You live, you learn and you move on and you pray to God that the next time around you will get it right.

Sometimes people come into our lives at just the right time. One of my friends who I hold very close to my heart is a friend I met about a month before my mum passed away. Her best friend had died the month before in a horrific car crash so we had that common bond of loss and grief. We found solid ground to stand on together and in the midst of our grief we found a friendship that has no boundaries and no matter where either of us go in this life the place she holds in my heart will never change. While grieving her own loss she stepped in and helped me through the hardest time of my life. In some ways she saved my life. When I needed to cry, she let me. When I needed to yell, she let me yell at her. When I needed to hate the world, she let me hate her. When I needed someone to yell at me and put me in my place she did, and when I needed to just be silent with someone I could do that with her. It didn't matter what it was, she was everything I needed her to be and THAT is the kind of friendship that I hope we all can find at least once in our lives.
This is a post for the Blog Off for Breast Cancer. Feel free to click on any of the links on the right to check out any of the other blogs involved. Also, if you'd like to make a donation to Courtney, please click on the banner below.

Interview Me

Ok so I am sure plenty of you have seen this meme around blogs. I was silly enough to ask Carly to interview me and I feel the pressure to come up with some great witty answers. No promises, but here goes......

1. What was the hardest habit to give up after you were married? I think we all have those annoying habits that drive our significant other crazy. There are a couple however that possibly drove Chris batty. I would not say I have completely conquered these habits but I try. The first one is putting the lid back on the toothpaste. I have always been horrible about this, I don't do it on purpose it is just the way it is. Chris has resorted to only buying toothpaste with the attached flip caps. Even then sometimes I don't close it, but in the 2 1/2 years we have been married I have come a long way. The second one is replacing the empty toilet roll with a new one. It's funny because I have always usually got a new roll out, just never put it where it belongs. This is another thing I have gotten much better at but I still have my moments, but I try hard.

2. As part of Courtney's Blog-Off For Breast Cancer, how have you found the experience so far? Which has been your favourite word to post about? Have you learned anything from the exercise? I have enjoyed being part of the blog off. I definitely thought coming up with posts for most of the words to date would have been easier than it it has been. My favorite word?? Well, it's funny that I struggled so hard to write my post on the word Clarity and now that I look back on my posts I realize it has been one of my favorites. I also had a lot of fun with my post on the word Golden. Have I learned anything you ask? I think I have, I have always known I like to write but I tend to get discouraged easily and not have a lot of confidence in my own abilities. Taking part in the blog off has given me a renewed love for writing and I am excited about that.

3. You and Chris have talked about wanting to move ever since the moment I met you. What is it about Boston that you dislike the most? At the same time, it must have some strong points. What's your favourite thing about it? While Boston is a beautiful city to visit, it is a horrible place to live. At least in our opinion. It is horrendously expensive, it is old, the houses are old, the drivers suck, their is possibly nothing more annoying on this planet than most Boston sports fans and the people in general are just not nice. A lot of it is just being on the east coast, people are different out here, the way of life is different out here. But if I had to pick what I dislike the most it would definitely have to be the people and how they are just obnoxious and rude. That's hard. Their are however some things I do like about living here. Living in New England offers you a unique opportunity to travel to and from 6 different states (Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut) within an hour. It really is beautiful once you get out of the city. We love to just go for drives and enjoy the scenery. We will definitely miss that the most when we leave. I also love being so close to New York City.

4. What is one phrase you've noticed coming out of your mouth more often than any other? This is an interesting question to ask me because the answer definitely changes from time to time. Lately I have been saying "suck it" a lot. I actually got that from an episode of Scrubs (best show ever) where another surgeon said to Turk (Donald Faison) "suck it Turk!" Ever since, I cannot stop saying it, just ask Carly. I tend to say "first of all" a lot, usually when Chris and I are arguing. he he.

5. You guys are coming to stay with me and Aaron this summer. What's one thing we should probably know to prepare for your arrival? I can't really think of anything you should be afraid of, at least not anything you need this long to prepare for. The only other thing I can think of is Chris's deadly cat allergy, but you already know this. All we ask is that the cats don't get in to where we will be sleeping for a few days before we arrive. You also know about Chris's deadly nut and fish allergies, so all I ask really is that you don't kill my husband. lol.

And there you have it folks. Carly I hope you are more than satisfied with my answers, if not you can SUCK IT!! Now if any of you out there would like to play along.....

1.Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2.I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3.You will update your weblog with the answers to the questions.
4.You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5.When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Another week has come and gone and I have managed to keep on for another week in the blog off. This week we had to say goodbye to Gina over at Speaking Quite Franke. I suppose I am a little surprised I have lasted this long but happy I will be around to blog about my word which is up this week, my word is friendship. Speaking of friendship.....

So I have this old old old old friend who I lost touch with and have not seen in probably almost 12 years. We used to be the best of friends. But you know how things go sometimes. Life happens, people move and you lose touch. Well, we recently are back in touch after all this time. Evette now lives in England with her fiance and they are coming HERE to Boston to visit us in less than 3 weeks. I am SO excited.

And now I must go, doggies can't walk themselves you know. Have a great day!

BLOOD -- BLOG OFF FOR BREAST CANCER

Last year Chris and I came home one day to a peculiar finding. After we had let the dog out to go to the bathroom we had noticed there was some blood on my pants about knee level. I checked all over to see if I had scraped myself somewhere. Of course I hadn’t. Well that was odd, but we went about our day. A little later that day I noticed some blood on the side of the house near our door. Still though, we could not figure out where it came from. The next day we started noticing more streaks of blood on our walls down our hallway, in the kitchen and on our stove. BIZARRE we thought. But still we could not figure out where it was coming from. We figured it had to be the dog, so we gave her a good check but still found nothing that would be a source of bleeding. At this point we were beginning to think we were going crazy. Finally, one day soon we figured it out, we cracked the case. We KNEW it had to be the dog because of the height of the blood streaks, the trick was finding out what was bleeding.

Once again we did a thorough check of Belle and sure enough there it was. On the very tip of her tail we found the source of the mysterious blood. We didn't know how she hurt her tail, at first we were a bit worried that she had done it intentionally out of anger for being left at home in her kennel while we were out. But that didn't really make any sense to us considering she has always been in her kennel and it has never been a problem. She is not neglected and definitely is not lacking in quality time with us. She is with us a lot of the time. We finally came to the conclusion that regardless of HOW she hurt it, that when we got home she was reopening the wound when she would wag her tail and hit it hard against her kennel and then the walls once we let her out. You see, Belle does not have a lot of hair, she is a very short-haired dog and so when she wags her tail it is like a little whip. And she wags it fast and very forcefully. So there she would be, wagging with all her might in her joy and happiness not realizing she was just hurting herself and in the process painting our walls with blood. I swear at the time it looked like a murder scene with blood streaks all over the place. Amazing a tiny little wound could make so much blood.

It was like CSI at our house. There was Chris and myself kneeling and looking at the blood streaks on the walls, talking and trying to figure out what it could possibly be from. Perhaps if they are looking for another new CSI show they should give us a call. Can’t you see it now? CSI: Hyde Park, starring Chris and Evey McClees. Now that we had found the wound we decided a plan of action to try and have it heal properly and quickly. We got out the peroxide and cleaned it off nice and good. We had some gauze and bandages and medical tape, so we decided to try and jimmy rig our own bandage. This was a difficult thing to do because it was on the very tip of her tail, but we gave it a shot anyways. The next time we went out we came home to find our idea had not worked at all. The bandage was off and once again her tail was bleeding. I was getting frustrated thinking she was doing it on purpose (making her tail bleed that is), and concerned for how the heck we were supposed to get this fixed. We made an appointment for her the next day to go and see the vet. He was quick to assure me that she was probably not chewing on her own tail and that it was more likely what we thought all along--that she was reopening the wound with each whip of her tail. He also pointed out that if you put a bandage on a dog and they can reach it they will bite it off. Go figure! He took the time and cleaned her wound very well, put some ointment on it and bandaged it up again pretty good. He told us to leave the bandage on for a few days but after that we would need to remove it so that the wound could breathe and heal. And then came what I just knew Belle was going to hate. The cone for her head. Let me tell you, she was NOT impressed. It was funny too, because she had no perception of how much room she had to walk through doorways, etc and she was constantly walking into things. We started out by only putting the cone on when we went out and left her at home only to quickly realize we needed it on her a night as well. Otherwise she would get at the bandage while we were sleeping. Considering Belle sleeps in our bed with us and most of the time UNDER the covers, it was an interesting challenge. We very quickly learned that the cone was useless. Her tail is so long, and she is so very flexible that she could still reach her tail. Here is where Chris got creative…..

Finding one of those plastic file folders he cut it up and duct taped it together in the shape of the cone. He then duct taped that to the cone itself and basically extended it by 3 inches. It was hilarious. There was my poor dog with a clear cone on her head, duct tape all over it and an extension made with a plastic blue file folder. I am sure she was the talk of the town. And never mind the fact that with the addition it made it heavy and she had a hard time holding her head all the way up and walked into things even more. Poor thing!

The good news however is that it kept her away from her tail and that eventually after a few weeks it started to heal enough we were able to leave her alone without her cone on her head. I am certain Belle smiled the day the cone went in the garbage and we no longer needed to bandage her tail. I was glad for her that her tail had healed and I was glad for me that I didn’t have to scrub anymore blood of my walls. I was also extremely to happy to learn that my dog is not a "cutter!"She still does have a little rough spot on her tail and the hair never grew back. But a tiny bald spot that is hard to notice is a better option than bleeding everywhere everyday. She is a happy girl now......

This is a post for the Blog Off for Breast Cancer. Feel free to click on any of the links on the right to check out any of the other blogs involved. Also, if you'd like to make a donation to Courtney, please click on the banner below.