Attitude of Gratitude V4#24 - Auto save

Yes, auto save. It is a LIFESAVER. And auto recovery for that matter. The battery is gone on my laptop. As in I have zero battery. It works fabulously when it's plugged in but it can't be unplugged for more than two seconds or it shuts down. I have a loose cord connection as well so it tends to happen often. When it does I initially curse because it's a pain to boot the thing back up but then I praise god for auto save because I rarely actually lose work. Even when I haven't saved myself (which I try to do fairly regularly), the computer saves automatically every few minutes and then recovers whatever I was working on. It stinks that I have to rely on it but until I get around to getting a new battery, I'll take what I can get.

From love affair to all out relationship

I have a confession. I've been having an affair. With David. Well, with his tea anyway. Have you heard of this stuff? DAVIDsTEA? You may recall that I don't even LIKE tea. Well, this is different. I got a sample pack of "Forever Nuts" as part of my Secret Santa gift at work and I fell. in. love. Granted of all the zillions of teas that David has, that's probably the best choice for me because I love anything nutty (my Santa knows me well) but I'm interested in trying other ones now. In fact I finally stopped in at their store yesterday and I spent over $30! THIRTY!!! On TEA! ME! The coffee queen. It's not cheap so it's not like I got a lot. Just a tin of my beloved Forever Nuts, adorable little drawstring fillable tea bags (actually buying a tea ball or something which is actually cheaper sounded too much like commitment) and a mini-tin of Coco-Chai Rooibos which I haven't even tried yet. I like the herbal and rooibos teas because they aren't caffeinated and good for drinking before bed.

I feel like a traitor to Starbucks which is why it feels like an affair. The fact that it was a coworker that introduced me to this stuff is only slightly ironic. And that I've fallen head over heels in love, with tea. I'm still finding it hard to believe but I am enjoying it. I should probably be worried. I'm thirty and now I'm starting to drink tea. Pretty sure it's downhill from here. Next thing you know I'll be getting a cat. If that does happen, please, please, PLEASE stage an intervention LOL

Attitude of Gratitude V4#23 - Family

Any of you who have been reading my blog for any length of time know that I generally include "Family" as one of my first annual gratitude posts. It's one of the few topics that I allow myself to repeat because I truly am grateful for my family. Well, I have to admit, this past November I wasn't exactly grateful for them. In fact I was kind of happy that I was so busy with school because I could avoid the drama. So, with the benefit of hindsight, let's see if I can catch you all up a little bit. First, we'll start with a recap on my family. L-R in the picture is Brittany and Seth (the oldest boy in our family and his fiance, you may remember back in August when I announced their engagement). Next is myself, then Robert and his wife(!, more on that later) Robbie, Dad, Mom and my "baby" brother, Aaron.

Yes, Wife. So Seth and Brittany got engaged in August 2011 and set their wedding date as August 2012. Then in October Robert and Robbie got engaged and decided "hey, since everyone will be in BC for Christmas, let's just get married then!" Great idea right? Well, it kind of blew up on them. Major, MAJOR drama ensued. The most majorest drama that my family has ever seen. Mostly on the case of Seth's part. To say he was livid and hurt would be an understatement. I spent HOURS on the phone with him, and then Mom, and then Brittany and a bit with Robert (who was WAY up north and out of range most of the time). In time it died down and Seth has (thankfully) mostly come to terms with it but I don't think he'll ever really forgive Robert for leapfrogging him to the altar.

So, back in November when I was supposed to be writing this post, I wasn't particularly grateful for my family. Now that Christmas and the wedding have come and gone, and we're all back on speaking terms and the drama is mostly passed down, I can go back to being grateful for them. Even with the drama they are WAY better than most families and I wouldn't trade them. Plus, I really like my new sister-in-laws which is just a bonus!

Attitude of Gratitude V4#22 - Flying

Another five weeks have passed since my last post. Crazy. So, where do I start? How about where I left off. That seems more manageable. I'm just going to keep going with the gratitude posts and blog little chunks of the past month plus.

I am so glad that I love flying. My choice to live so far from my family means that flying is a fact of life if I want to see them and not spend most of my trip on a bus or in a car. Luckily I really love flying. Yes it has drawbacks but it's so worth it. Just before Christmas I was scheduled to fly out of Pearson International Airport in Toronto at 7am. I did the math and realized that, accounting for weather and traffic, in order to be there on time I would probably have to get up around 3am. Instead my friend Jess drove me out the night before. We went for dinner and she dropped me off at 11pm. I just spent the extra time in the airport with the few people that had layovers. It worked. It wasn't particularly comfortable for napping but it was quiet and I figure I probably wouldn't have slept at home anyway.

The benefit of being up for most of the night is that I got to check in and check my luggage with out waiting in line. Same with going through security, plus, they're a bit more laid back and patient at 4am. I got on the plane just after 7am as scheduled. I found my (window) seat, sat down, buckled up, put my headphones in and my jacket under my head...and the next thing I knew I looked outside the window and this <-- is the sight that greeted me. Mountains. Mountains WEST of Calgary. I had fallen asleep immediately. I didn't hear the safety announcement or I didn't feel the plane move at all. No taxiing, no take off. None of it. So, thanks to my nap, my five hour flight felt like only about 45 minutes!!! It was great! Granted I was a little disappointed because I DO like flying and I had big plans for while I was on the plane (reading, watching movies, etc) and I missed it all. That's okay though :)


This was my plane from Edmonton. Why Edmonton you ask? Well, I'll get to that. For now, I'm going to post this and hope it inspires me to get back to blogging :)

Attitude of Gratitude V4#21 - New Boots

Last year I got Uggs, well, fake Uggs. Soft Moc ones but I love them. In 2009 I got my red boots. This year I got these gems (apparently new boots is a November tradition :D)

For my birthday my friend Rachel (pictured with me on my birthday below) gave me a gift certificate to the shoe store Spring. I would never have considered that for someone but I think it's brilliant!

I have noticed this style around campus and really liked them. It seemed like everyone I spoke to had gotten their boots at Spring so I made my way over there and found this pair. I love the neutral colour and they are SO soft. They're not snow boots by any stretch of the imagination but they are good for walking to the bus in the rain or on cool dry days when you don't want knee high boots. I usually wear them laced up to the top (like the one on the right) but I have seen lots of  people wearing them open (like on the left). I really like the plaid inside too and I wanted you to see that ;)

Yep, I am thankful for new boots!

Attitude of Gratitude V4#20 - A Sense of Humour

I'm having trouble keeping track of all the people I know who are engaged. This isn't a new problem, I generally have tons of weddings to go to but it seems like recently there's been a bunch more. I can't help but wonder though, if all these people are getting married, why am I still single? Well, let's look at WHO is getting married.

Of the seven weddings I know of that are coming up:
Two of the guys are my brothers
Two of the guys are my cousins
Two of the guys are over ten years younger than me
Two of the guys are gay and marrying each other.

Alrighty then. Let's just forget it :P

Anyway, lately I've really been enjoying Terri Clark's newest single called "The One". It really captures where I am right now.

I hear the whispers as I walk by
They always start with bless her heart
She’s still single and that’s such an empty life
She must not be lookin’ all that hard
They’ve all got their stories of why I’m still alone
But the only truth that matters is my own

I want fireworks to paint the sky
A kiss to burn my lips
I wanna feel the touch that pounds my heart down to my fingertips
And twenty years from now it still won’t be as good as it will ge
It might be a lot to ask for but I won’t take any less
 Just because I won’t settle don’t mean I won’t settle down
I don’t need a love that I can live with I want the one I can’t live without

 Momma’s always getting on me
She says I don’t give anyone a chance
But if I can’t feel the music when somebody holds me
How am I supposed to dance
There might be a few more lonely nights
But I’m not keeping score
It’s worth the wait for what I’m waitin’ for

 Fireworks to paint the sky
A kiss to burn my lips
I wanna feel the touch that pounds my heart down to my fingertips
And twenty years from now it still won’t be as good as it will get
It might be a lot to ask for but I won’t take any less
Just because I won’t settle don’t mean I won’t settle down
I don’t need a love that I can live with I want the one I can’t live without

 And just because I won’t settle don’t mean I won’t settle down
I don’t need a love that I can live with I want the one I can’t live without
No I can’t live without

 So, I'll keep singing, and be grateful that I can laugh about it.

Attitude of Gratitude V4#19 - Christmas Music

 I titled this Christmas Music but really I'm grateful for Christmas music, live music, and great friends who are flexible and open to adventure.

First the music, I have four friends who have joined a celtic fiddle club and they participated in a Christmas concert on Friday night. Granted only one of them plays the violin. The others play flute, clarinet and mandolin. The music was a lot of fun. Lots of good toe tapping fiddle tunes with just enough Christmas standards thrown in to make it feel festive.

My friends Kinsey (left) and Heather (left) joined me. Kinsey had invited us over for a Christmas dinner that she was hosting on Thursday night but I had to work so I suggested dinner on Friday and then invited them both to this concert. It was held in a church in Acton which, with traffic, is well over an hour away (although it was a lot less getting home) so we had dinner and then just visited in the car. They both said that they really enjoyed the show, but for different reasons. Kinsey posted on Facebook: "Had a great time tonight at a Celtic Christmas Concert with Heidi and Heather! All those jigs and reels really made me miss PEI!" Heather said she enjoyed it because she used to be in band and was familiar with some of the music. In any case it was a fun relatively inexpensive night out and we all said we'd be game to do something like that again!