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truffle_girl's LiveJournal:
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| Sunday, June 18th, 2006 | | 8:24 pm |
  
(A little Anne-trifecta: hot and sweaty and wind-blown, and loving every minute!)It's amazing how much one piece of good news can change your perspective on things. I'm absolutely in love with the world right now! Mom came down to spend the day with me (Dan being in St. Catharines to pick his parents up after a bike tour they're on, and Dad unable to join us because he's swamped with work) --- and we had a really lovely girls' day out! Went to Len's Mill, which Mom had never been to before, and though I managed to restrain myself, Mom came out with towels and teaching supplies and socks and I'm not sure what else. Then, looking for somewhere air-conditioned to hang out, we ended up poking into lots of the little shops in St. Jacobs. So nice to do some shopping (and gawking) in a non-mall atmosphere... Anyway, the point is that we also went for a walk over to Tamarack, just so she could see where it is, and talked lots about the new job and everything awesome about it. I'm feeling so much enthusiasm about that, it seems to be spilling over into just about every other aspect of my life too! Sunlight seems brighter, breeze seems fresher, the scent of the clover and vetch and daisies along the side of the road seems sweeter, and I just feel so damned lucky to be here, and to have such awesome people and opportunities around me. My energy level is higher too --- after dinner at the Mongolian Grill, I sent Mom back off home to Orangeville, and I practically danced all the way home through Waterloo Park. I swear, I don't even think my feet touched the ground! On that note, here's a big dose of that sunshiney-smiley-dancey excitement for each of you who read this, too! | | Thursday, June 15th, 2006 | | 10:43 pm |
YES!
(Celebrating with Dan at Ennio's tonight)As of the start of July, I am officially the Coordinator of Custom Services at Tamarack: an Institute for Community Engagement. This is the news I've been waiting so long to hear: it's been over a month and a half since I actually applied. I was one of over a hundred applicants, so the weeding-through took them quite a while, and I'm surprised (and totally thrilled) to find myself in the position! I'm going to give my notice at the chocolate shop tomorrow, even though it's my day off. Two more weeks and then, hopefully, I will never have to work retail again! So, what's this new job all about? ( Read more... )Other cool stuff about the job: my salary is more than doubling from what I've been making, and it's due to increase even more after about the first 6 months; it's based a five-minute walk away from our apartment, in a really lovely little building tucked away in Luther Village, a really pretty little retirement community beside the Waterloo Rec Complex; the people who work there are really, really, REALLY cool, and the organizational culture is phenomenally supportive and creative; and, best of all, I get to use my BRAIN! | | Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 | | 6:43 am |
life's a circus
Back in May, while Dan was in France (more on that later), I went up to Ottawa with my parents, and hung out with my grandparents for the weekend. Two very cool (well, geeky-cool) things happened:
1) Mom and I convinced Granny, who is blind, to try knitting again. She used to knit gorgeous, fine, intricate things, and we wanted to see if her fingers would still remember what to do when presente with needles and yarn. Lo and behold, they did! (She says she's too busy to sit and knit, though --- I think she might feel differently if someone else was there to help straighten out any mistakes, but Granddad isn't likely to be able to help her with that...) Anyway, she hasn't knit in probably fifteen years, maybe twenty, so even just knowing she CAN knit felt like a major accomplishment!
 2) Dad and I had intended to take Granddad out to the War Museum on Sunday afternoon, but he wasn't feeling up to it, so the two of us were casting around for something to do. Dad had mentioned that Cirque du Soleil was in town (Quidam is going into its 10th season of touring), but I didn't think he was really serious about going... until he announced that he was going to buy tickets! The Cirque is just phenomenal --- you sit there with your heart in your throat the whole time, just unable to believe what you're seeing. The energy, the artistry, the acrobatic genius! Of course, I couldn't take pictures inside, so I'll leave you with a shot of part of the tent, to at least prove I was there.  --------------- Dan got home from France, where he had an absolutely phenomenal time, and his mother and brother and I were at the airport to pick him up. He took over 500 pictures while he was gone, many of which will be making their way to my flickr account soon, hopefully with detailed comments, so I won't go on about his trip here. I will say, though, that it's wonderful having my husband back, and that absense can indeed make the heart grow (even) fonder. We hadn't been apart for more than two or three nights since I moved in with him two and a half years ago, so those two whole weeks felt like an eternity! --------------- One last little adventure to mention before I go off to work: this past weekend, Matt and Sam and Dan and I decided to go catch a Jays game. (We had originally planned on going to the beach, but it was a liiiiiittle chilly for that!) I hadn't been to a game since my grade 8 grad trip, which would be spring of 1993, so this was a major event! The game was great, though the Jays lost, and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. No pics, because I forgot to upload them earlier, and now I'll be late for work if I do... Speaking of which, I'm off! | | 6:27 am |
suspended animation
Again with the not posting, eh? I know, I know. My head hangs in shame.
What you don't know is how many times I've sat down intending to write something on here, and then blanked out; or how many times I've composed long entries in my head while at work, only to decide they're foolish and/or irrelevant by time I get home. And it's not even as though nothing's happened in my life these past weeks --- it's just that there's one really, really important piece of news that I've been anticipating for a month or more, and my entire self seems to be caught up in that right now. I'm hoping, essentially, that this piece of news will change my life, and thereby change the contents of my blog from mere, pointless rantings about my retail existence to something much more interesting. No, I'm not going to tell you what the news is/might be, because I don't want to jinx anything. (But don't go all parental on me and assume that just because I'm young and female and newly married, my news will involve diapers and blankies and handknit baby booties: it doesn't.)
Until this news either appears or evaporates into nothingness, I'm kind of fumbling along in a semi-mechanical state, going through the motions, you know?
But this is a pathetic excuse for ignoring what's been going on --- it's not like my life's actually been empty, or even dull, lately! I think another post is in order...
| | Wednesday, May 17th, 2006 | | 11:14 am |
à bientôt!
Dan leaves for Normandy this afternoon. I miss him already! I know he's going to have a fantastic trip, and I wish I were able to join him... Au revoir, mon cheri, et à bientôt!
| | Saturday, May 13th, 2006 | | 3:38 pm |
mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
I haven't posted in over a month. Pathetic, I know! And silly, really, too: there's no real reason for the non-posting, just that every time I sit down and consider posting, it seems like there's nothing much to write about. Life around here is the same, day after day, give or take. But, to prove that I'm still here and still alive, here I am:
 Forgive the vanity of a self-portrait; I'm really more excited about the camera that took the photo than the photo itself. (Dan's borrowing Matt's awesome Rebel to take to Europe, and I've spent a couple of hours this afternoon fooling with it.) I'm getting ahead of myself, though: ( Read more... ) | | Wednesday, April 5th, 2006 | | 8:22 pm |
listy listy list
Things I have not done this week:
• Attend the Stitch N Kitsch show, at which both Erin and Alexandra were exhibiting their fantabulous creations, despite having promised them that I'd be there (sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry)
• Give my apartment the cleaning it so badly needs
• Do basically ANYthing that I had planned on accomplishing
• Leave my bed with anything resembling willingness or energy
Things I have done this week:
• Endured the cramping, nausea, and other yuckiness of another girly-bits disaster
• Missed a day of work
• Crawled out of bed, reluctantly, to go to work
• Set up my personal nightmare, the temporary Easter chocolate kiosk
• Had a migraine for the duration of my day off yesterday
• Whimpered miserably in the dark while my upstairs neighbour, a gemsmith, polished stone after stone with a machine that very badly needs some kind of oil or other lubricant
I've actually had a much better day today, and have managed to get groceries, do laundry, do dishes, and even make Orgasm Cookies for a party we're going to on Saturday. Hooray for productivity, and for a body that's not doing anything to hurt me! Also, hooray for strawberries being on sale, and for fresh baguette with good cheese!
| | Sunday, March 26th, 2006 | | 5:56 pm |
kimono!
Mom and Dad brought back an enormous amount of omiyage (gifts) from their trip. One of my favourite things was this kimono --- there's also an obi for it, though I'm out of upload bandwidth for the moment, so no pics. Mom, Dad, and Gillian met up with Maki and Izumi, two of the Japanese girls that I used to mentor at Laurier, and Izumi (herself dressed in kimono, despite the cold!) took them to a special used-kimono market in Osaka. While kimono are super-expensive when new, Mom and Gillian both bought them used for about $10 apiece, plus another $20 each for the obis.
(More photos of Japanese coolness to come, early in April!)
 | | 5:48 pm |
meow
Dan and I spent the weekend up in Orangeville after picking up Mom and Dad from their Japan trip. Laptop was sooooo thrilled to have people around her again that she was uncharacteristically bold --- she let Dan pat her a bit, twice, and she let me take some pictures without running away from the camera!
 | | Sunday, March 19th, 2006 | | 6:26 pm |
brace yourself
I have to post about this --- though it may be TMI for some...
It's my foot, see. My ulcerated, crappy, stupid, oozy foot. Or at least, the foot that was ulcerated, crappy, stupid, and oozy until recently! I feel like I've had a minor miracle, and my foot has been recovered to me. After two nasty punch biopsies, the lab was eventually able to find the bacterial culprit that was causing all the ugliness --- and, to even the doctor's surprise, it was something reasonably common and very easily treated! As a result, I've had a course of antibiotics, and my foot is infinitely better. I've never posted pics of the foot before, but I have to show you a before and after to explain why this is so exciting to me.
( Read more... ) | | 5:52 pm |
| | Tuesday, March 7th, 2006 | | 11:04 pm |
bravo
I couldn't be prouder right now.
Dan got an e-mail this afternoon saying that he's been accepted for the Cleghorn Battlefield Study Fellowship --- a 2-week, virtually-all-expenses-paid tour of major WWI and WWII battlefields in Europe. This is just the abso-frickin'-lutely coolest thing, and it's perfect for him. I'm so thrilled for him!
Only problem? I'll be lonely for two weeks in May. But, for something this awesome, I can deal with that!
| | Wednesday, March 1st, 2006 | | 10:26 pm |
upside down
I was off work today, due to one of my infamous menstrual disasters, when I got a phone call from the store. The manager, J, has been in a car accident and is now in the ICU up in Owen Sound --- in "stable" condition, but off work indefinitely. Damn. I'm in more than a little bit of shock here... I don't know what to think!
It's a horrible, horrible, horrible thing to have happen, especially to a woman who's already going through a lot. On the other hand, the timing is impeccable --- the manager from the other store in the area is coming back from maternity leave on Monday, leaving the other manager (let's call her C) who was covering for her free and needing hours. The plan was originally to have C going back and forth between the two stores, to give her enough hours, until closer to Easter, when she was going to come up to our store full-time to run a second kiosk full of seasonal Easter stuff. Now, she'll be able to come to our store full-time almost immediately --- she'll spend a couple of days with the returning manager at the other store, and then by Wednesday, she'll be at my store. Thankfully, C and I get along well (we worked together back at Waterloo Town Square before that store closed), so it seems as though, in a weird way, this will work out to my benefit! If C hadn't been available, I would have become acting manager, and that sounds like my personal definition of hell. (I sound like a selfish bitch here, don't I?)
Back to J, and the immediate present. I need to find out what actually happened, and what the extent of her injuries really is. I need to figure out whether the company is going to make any sort of official gesture (flowers or whatever) and then whether the staff at our store and I should send something in addition --- and where to send it. (Not sure how long she'll stay in Owen Sound, and when/if they'll transfer her down to Grand River.) I need to hire some additional staff. I need to hash out some kind of schedule for the next week, until C and I can settle into a more regular routine. I need to figure out how much of the paperwork from our store (sales tracking, schedules, payroll, etc.) J had with her --- she likes to work on things at home --- and whether all of that is at her house or whether she had it in the car with her. I also need to be back on my feet in time to work tomorrow morning, and not be doubled over in pain and nausea the way I was this morning!
Wish me luck!
| | Sunday, February 26th, 2006 | | 10:23 pm |
| | Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 | | 11:58 am |
here we go
I hate Valentine's Day with a passion. And yes, I am a newlywed, deeply in love with my husband, and in general, apt to seize on the slightest of occasions to proclaim my love and to celebrate our relationship. This, however, does not include Valentine's Day --- for one simple reason: I work in the chocolate industry. Need I say more?
Providing that I can survive today at the mall, tomorrow brings new joys: another punch biopsy of my foot, because we still don't really know why it's ulcerating the way it is, and therefore can't treat the ulceration with much hope of success.
Once the surgery's done, though, I get to go home to my parents' place, veg out with my foot on a pillow for a couple of days, and then we're driving up to Ottawa for my grandfather's 92nd birthday party. Hurray!
In other words: sorry for the lack of posts prior to and following this one right here --- I haven't been, nor will I be, near the computer for a while!
| | Sunday, February 5th, 2006 | | 11:21 am |
hat trick
 The hats are done! Back to the blanket. | | 12:45 am |
too much caffeine
Stolen from Erin, because I have had too much caffeine to sleep!
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME:
(first pet and current street name)
Tigger Erb
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME:
(grandfather/grandmother on mother's side first name, favorite candy)
Leila Lindor (okay, so my real favourite is, oh, ANYthing caramel, but I figured a brand name was called for)
3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME:
(first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
C-Bla (or A-Bla?)
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME:
(favorite animal, name of high school)
Cat Orangeville District? (ugh, that's not pretty. I do like that my first name shortens to Cat anyway...)
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME:
(middle name, city where you were born)
Anne Toronto (again, ugh)
6. YOUR OPPOSITE SEX NAME:
(name of dad/mom, cell phone company you use)
Mark Bell
7. YOUR STAR WARS NAME:
(first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name)
Bla Son Lap (triple ugh)
8. PORN STAR NAME:
(middle name, street you grew up on)
Anne Blind (ugh ugh ugh)
Really, Tigger Erb and Mark Bell are the only plausible names... Tigger Erb's kinda rockin'! ...but only kinda.
| | Thursday, February 2nd, 2006 | | 12:05 am |
| | Saturday, January 28th, 2006 | | 9:49 pm |
randomness
 I had some extra room in my Flickr uploads this month, so I added a bunch of older pictures: some pet photos, some camping shots, a few family ones... I took the majority, but others were taken by my sister/my parents. Random, but cute and/or pretty and/or meaningful for me! | | Friday, January 27th, 2006 | | 7:51 pm |
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