Journey & Adventure

Today is apparently "Blue Monday" - a.k.a. the most depressing day of the year.  I'm not sure about the "most depressing day" thing, but it's more like all of January that gets me down.  With all the hype of the holiday season out of the way, New Year's resolutions that have not started, cold and damp weather, bad roads and of course, lack of sunshine, all of January saps my strength.  With the beginning of every January, I try to convince myself that I'll be okay.  By mid January, I've lost the "you'll be okay" battle with myself and have chance my mantra to "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger", "you can keep going long after you think you can't" and of course "suck it up buttercup". *sigh* If I could call in sick for the month of January, the month would be manageable.  BUT, since that's not an option, I continue to trudge along in my cold weather gear with the knowledge th...

By March, signs of Spring have usually begun to make their appearance – warming temperatures, melting snow, longer days and more sunshine.  Such is not the case this year – winter is not letting go.  Unless you can count the Canada geese that are honking outside my office window and the smell of skunk in the air – those are the only signs that Spring may be in our future.   We have now officially had almost 5 months of below freezing temperatures. No joke!  I plan on burning all of my winter sweaters when Spring finally arrives.  Yes, I know I’ll need them next year, but I’ll worry about that then.  They are gone!  No joke there either.  I hate them sooo much.   I’ve packed on enough pounds this winter to easily get me through the next 3 winters.  I don’t even care. The last thing I’m thinking about is exercising or salads.  Comfort foods are the only things on my mind.  I’ll worry about weight loss in the Spri...

We are still experiencing cold, cold and more, cold.   I know – I live in Canada, what else can I expect?   Well, I expect temperatures that will not cause me frostbite to my extremities that are not covered up and that exposed longer than 5 minutes to the elements (aka my eyeballs).   We’ve been under some Polar Vortex (WTF) for the last month.   Enough already.   I not only have to deal with the cold, but there is also the blowing snow and wind chill warnings on a daily basis.   It would be nice to have a day of normal driving conditions where my commute only takes an hour instead of the hour and a half of late.     To make matters even sweller (yes, I know it’s not a word), our heat here at work only works occasionally – usually NOT on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.     I’m sure its toasty warm in here on the weekend, but I don’t plan on testing that theory out.   I took a sick day ...

I am so happy to see January on its way out the door. January is a month that provides me with nothing but misery – it’s long, cold, dark and dreary. With a little luck, I’ll only have to endure four more Canadian Januarys. Hooray! I’ve started with my Fluenz Spanish lessons and so far, things are progressing nicely. I’m only on lesson 4 of the first DVD – only 26 more lessons to go and then I have another 4 DVDs. Good thing I started early. Keeping with the Spanish theme, I’m noticing that the voices in my head are now speaking to me in Spanish - particularly after completing a lesson and then heading straight to bed. I guess it’s not necessarily a bad thing – unless I can’t understand them. J and I are still engrossed in our relocation research. I’ll only say this – we’ve started to look at yet another country as a potential candidate. I’m sure we’ll end up looking at plenty more before we even book another flight to take a research tour. Our new living room furnitu...

I’m feeling out of sorts this Monday. I don’t know why, I just know that something’s not right with my world at the moment. Probably, just the Monday blues. I should start feel better by 5:00 pm - I usually do. My boss is on holidays this week. Thank goodness for small miracles. Another week like last week and I might not have been able to contain myself or the rage he creates within me. I had dinner with an old co-worker last week. Our meeting reminded me of how much I miss working with her. We could be silly together, laughing about anything, everything and everyone that crossed our paths throughout the day. It was nice to have a funny, carefree co-worker. I don’t have that here and I miss it. I wish I could go barefoot in the office. I hate wearing shoes. I’m constantly kicking them off under my desk only to have to scramble to put them back on when I need to go to meetings, the printer, supply room or the restroom. This morning I was reflecting upon “what I did th...

For those of you that have followed along for some time, you know that I don’t like the winter months and although we haven’t experienced a rough winter, it still hasn’t changed my mood. I tend to feel like a hibernating bear - I don’t want to go outside, I want to sleep all day, I’m happy eating excess amounts of food and generally, I’m cranky when disturbed or put out in anyway. Even the ringing of the telephone sends my crank-o-meter into the “danger” zone. I’d been thinking that perhaps I need some socialization to make me feel better and to help me snap out of this funk. I even went so far as “throwing out” a few dates to friends to come over for dinner. Honestly, I was relieved when the dates I suggested didn’t work for the friends because the idea of planning a dinner party and socializing was starting to make me second guess my good nature (aka…it was making me cranky). Just like the winter, I know this moodiness will pass. It always does, but until then…I need a...

It’s Day 2 of Snowmageddon.    No, I’m not being dramatic – it’s a FACT.   Mother Nature is blessing us with a Winter Wonderland, but I’m still left wondering what’s so fantastic about snow, cold weather, whiteouts and ridiculous drivers. By the end of day yesterday, we had received a whopping 80 cm or approximately 31 inches of snow.   Today, we are expecting another 50 cm or an additional 19 inches of snow.   The end of the world is coming. Yesterday, I donned my toque (remember last year's lesson on Canadian clothing), mittens and boots and ventured forth to work.   Only to be told, we were closing early. Today, I ventured forth again.   Upon arriving to work, I find there were less people there today than there were yesterday and most of the ones that didn’t show up actually live within the city.   Once again, we were told we were closing early.   My boss was su...

The Holidays are behind us for another year, the parties are over and the decorations have been put away. Now what? Apart from some indoor exercise, maybe the odd movie, some reading, an afternoon nap on the weekend and perhaps some weight loss, there is nothing to look forward to in the short term. The Holidays are a bit of a let-down in that respect. So much hype and then when the excitement suddenly stops, I’m left feeling lost – like I’ve forgotten to do something. I usually like to complain about the winter weather in January, but I can’t even do that because it hasn’t been that bad… yet. It’s been cold, but we have certainly been lacking in the snow department. I know winter will arrive and then I’ll have LOTS to keep my “bitter meter” ticking, but until then, what’s a girl to do?

So, in response to the question - what is a toque?  Here is a repost I had done awhile back about Canadian fashion attire...enjoy the beauty of it all....(jealous aren't you?) There is no escaping the crap that is a Canadian winter and there is no denying the fact that – I am a terrible Canadian. I detest winter so much that I daydream that the Canadian government would realize how terrible of a Canadian I actually am, kick me out of the country, ban me for life from watching hockey and revoke my god-given right to wear a toque or a dickey for the rest of my life. For those not familiar with Canadianisms a toque is a hat, which is most likely made of wool, knitted in a hideous pattern and colors and perhaps with a baseball size tassel adorning the top. These wonderful items are worn with pride, pulled down as far as possible, to cover your ears and most of your eyebrows, essentially hiding the identity of the wearer. In honesty, there is no pride in wearing this item; they...

I was feeling pretty good after my “Fall” post of yesterday and was slowly coming to terms with the cold reality that after Fall comes the shitiest time of year Winter. According to my calendar, I should have approximately another 6 more weeks of semi-tolerable weather. I was feeling fine…until… While enjoying my morning coffee, my jackass lovely husband had taken it upon himself to stomp on my fantasy of everlasting warmth and informs me that he has made an appointment for my snow tires to be put on my car in last week of October. While I applaud his forward-thinking nature, WTH was he thinking? You would think that he has learned that I will not tolerate that kind of trash-talk in my household. And then, since he’s on a roll, he decides that perhaps we should make a trip to Home Depot tonight and purchase this: Cub Cadet 28" Snow Thrower (Photo Courtesy of Home Depot) His explanation: “We should get one early. Remember last year, they sol...