Begin Anywhere

I have this posted on my bulletin board at work

"BEGIN ANYWHERE"

Too often I get overwhelmed or distracted and then I don't know where to start on my work. "Begin Anywhere" is a reminder to just START. Once I'm working on one task, prioritization on what needs to come next happens naturally.

Lately I've been trying to apply this to becoming more active. I lead a *very* sedentary life. I do the small things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator and stuff but as far as actually getting out and moving? It's too easy to just skip it.

Tuesday morning I had a meeting downtown. From my apartment to the coffee shop where we met is only maybe five blocks but it includes a fairly decent hill. I walked there and back and by the time I got home I was breathing WAY harder then I felt I should have been so lately, I've been working on just getting active. That evening I walked to the dry cleaners and the fruit stand. Thursday Mere and I went for a walk around the lake after dinner and then through the mall. This morning (Saturday) I got up and walked to the grocery store. (about an hour round trip)

Wednesday I was *so* sore. Today I'm feeling better but I know I have to keep it up. I've been saying for awhile that I need to get more active but I didn't know where to start. By "BEGINING ANYWHERE" I've gotten moving and I'm feeling better about myself.

~Heidi

Word of the day #32: plein air

plein air

plein air /ˈpleɪn ˈɛər; Fr. plɛ ˈnɛr/
Pronunciation[pleyn air; Fr. ple ner]
–noun 1. the open air, esp. the daylight of outdoors.
2. Fine Arts. the quality of light and atmosphere out of doors, esp. this quality as rendered in painting.

As part of one of the local summer festivals, there will be a "plein air" art competition. Local artists will be onsite during the festival painting and afterwards their work will be displayed and possibly made available for sale. I wasn't familiar with this term before yesterday's meeting.

~Heidi

Down to Single Digits!

Only nine days till Texas!!! I'm just about ready to start counting the hours left of work (56 for anyone who cares) I am *so* ready for a vacation. The emails and PM's are flying fast and furious. I'm getting to know Texas via "Google Maps" and my file of "must bring" papers is growing. Here's what I've done since my last update.

- Submitted my taxes and received my return. Now I actually have spending money!
- Booked a car, which turned out to be MUCH cheaper then I originally anticpated
- Signed up for BCAA (aka AAA) Got travel insurance. Got a road map for Texas and a VERY thick guide book.
- Figured out where I'm staying in San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth and when I'll be in each place and mostly with whom.
- Picked up a suitcase from Mom & Dad

Currently I'm working on:
- Maps and Directions for each of the places I'll be staying. I {heart} Google Maps.
- Deciding what to pack clothes wise
- Started an "other things" packing list

So, things are going well. I am BEYOND excited. :D

~Heidi

Yellow Star!

I’ve been bitten by the ebay bug. Nothing major but I recently earned a “yellow star” meaning I’ve received feedback ten times. I’ve been working on completing my Kenny Chesney cd collection. Get this though. This is what I paid for them:
$11.66 Touchdown Tennessee
$6.41 I Will Stand
$8.36 No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problems
$5.20 Greatest Hits
$14.19 Me & You

So that’s $46.80 including shipping for five cd’s. Some of which aren’t readily available in the stores anymore.

My collection is complete aside from “When the Sun Goes Down”. The problem is there is a limited edition Target version that has five extra tracks (on top of the three live tracks on the regular bonus version). I want that special one but I’ve seen it go for as much as $50!!!

Anyways, I’m quite enjoying my foray into the world of online bidding. It makes for good mail days too :)

~Heidi

$72.68 for a DVD?

After a *very* long wait, Dierks Bentley finally released "Live & Loud at the Fillmore" a DVD of a concert held at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, CO.

The DVD was released on Tuesday. I went straight from work to Wal-mart and $72.68 later I walked out of the store. No the DVD didn't cost that much but the thing is, I didn't actually HAVE a DVD player!!! I think Dierks is a good enough reason to get one :D I also got two cd's that I wanted in that purchase.

Of course I brought the DVD player home and unpacked it but I couldn't figure out how to hook it up. Luckily my technology savvy brother made it work for me :D

The DVD is *awesome*. It's weird to think that since it was filmed last June I have actually seen Dierks three times. The set list is different then what he currently does but it it includes all his hits, his biggest non-hits like "Domestic, Light and Cold", "Cab of My Truck" and my personal favourite "I Wish it Would Break". It also has the bluegrass version of "My Last Name" a peppy spontaneous rendition of Buck Owens "I've Got a Tiger By the Tail", Waylon's "Ain't Livin' Long Like This" and Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues". I've already watched it twice and I know I'll have it on regularly.

Oh, and the extras are fantastic as well. Dierks seems to know exactly what fans what to hear and see. It's great. Definitely worth $72.68 :)

~Heidi

Visitation

Last night was my first official "Visitation" with dance. Because it's Spring Break, our hall is "dark". They usually take this opportunity to re-wax the floors. Dark means that there is no dancing at my club so we take the opportunity to visit other local clubs. It may not mean much to non-dancers but a visitation is pretty cool. It's one thing to dance at your club with your caller with people who's dance styles you are familiar with. It's another thing to go to a new hall (with a suprisingly slippery floor) with a new caller and new people in your square. My regular partner couldn't make it either so I was actually dancing with seven new people a few times.

It was a lot of fun though. The club we visited is almost twice the size of ours. They're a great group and I had no problem finding a partner for each tip. A lot of them were impressed to learn that I'm doing advanced plus moves and I've only been dancing for 2.5 years. It feels good too. I was really confident which was nice.

Dance is almost over for the year though! Two more Monday nights, then I go to Texas. I get back and we have our wrap up dance on April 20th. Then we're done for the summer! It's gone fast. I have to enjoy it while it's still around.

~Heidi

Weekend Wanderings

I've opened up blogger probably a half a dozen times now to write this post. It's not all that exciting though. This weekend Mom, Dad, Aaron and I went up to visit Robert. We were supposed to leave around noon on Saturday but Dad discovered that he had a "slow leak" in one tire so he had to get that patched first. We finally got on the road close to 3pm. In a lot of ways Saturday was a wasted day because they didn't call and TELL me that he had a flat tire so I spent most of it waiting for them. It was rather frustrating.

Anyways, the roads were okay. It was raining and there's a lot of crud on the Coquihalla because of the snow but we made good time. We checked into our hotel and Mom and I picked up Robert from work, along with some pizza's. He came back to the hotel room and we watched the hockey game while eating. His roommate Ashley (they swear they're "only roommates"...we'll see how long that lasts) came over as well. She, Mom and I played Scrabble (I beat them, royally) and then Robert, Mom and I played Yahtzee. It was pretty laid back but nice.

Sunday morning we got up, packed up and invaded Robert and Ashley's basement suite. Mom had brought all the fixings for an early Easter dinner. Ham, potatoe casserole, veggies and salads. We got everything going and while it cooked and Dad, Robert and Aaron watched "The Patriot" Mom and I went on a wild goose chase to find a scrapbook store that turned out to be MUCH further down the road then we expected. We never did find it. It was a nice drive for just the two of us though.

Dinner turned out fantastic and afterwards, the family went for a walk around the neighbourhood (Ashley was in and out all this time). We got back on the road around four or five and had an uneventful trip home.

See? Nothing to exciting to report. It was nice to see Robert again though. And that, was my weekend! Now it's back to the grindstone.

17 days till Texas!!!

~Heidi

Sharp as Marbles

Yesterday was the "Vancouver Premier" for "Sharp as Marbles". I picked Meredith up around 5:30 and because we knew traffic would be stupid getting into the city, we chose to have dinner here in town before heading out. It worked well because by the time we did hit the bridge, it had eased up a lot. We ended up arriving at the theatre about a half an hour early which was fine. We got our seats and then wandered around the lobby for a bit and got our picture taken with Adam!

I need to crop the one of he and I but I don't have the proper software on this computer. Anyways, the movie was fun. It was shot locally here so we recognized a lot of the sets. We got a lot of laughs out of it too. It's a family friendly movie and quite enjoyable.

This was my first "premier". We actually sat between the director (producer? I forget, one of the important dudes anyways) and the lead female actress. Adam was two rows behind us and his co-stars were behind us. After the movie I had Adam sign a copy of the poster and I wished him luck in Nashville. He's just moved there and he's working on an American record deal which is really exciting.
Steve, from the radio station was there too. We talked for awhile before the movie and again after. He was sharing all sorts of station secrets that I'd better not post ;)

Anyways, it was a lot of fun. Something different for a Friday night. Mere and I took the "senic" route home so it was late but we had fun.

Oh, and of all the people in the world to meet there, after getting my picture taken with Adam I heard someone calling my name. It was a couple who we lived across the street from when I was in grades 5 & 6. He's my dad's massage therapist and I went to prom with their younger son! I don't think I've seen them since prom night so it was fun to catch up with them.

~Heidi

The "Heidi Show" is back on air

Well, sort of. It's taken me awhile to get over the fact that Doug left but lately I've been communicating with the radio DJ's again. I called Steve (the new morning guy) earlier in the week because he had mentioned that Shane Yellowbird (a new artist from Alberta) might be making his way down to the Valley. I was calling to see if there was any confirmation. Steve said not at this point but there might be something in the works. We chatted for a bit and he asked for my name. When I told it to him he said "oh yeah, you were the one that came into the studio!" "Yep, that was me!" LOL

Steve was the afternoon guy but since taking over the morning show, he's been replaced by Curtis in the afternoon. I called Curtis last week to welcome him back to the valley and to ask a question about the Country Club. It's a new thing they've launched for listeners. You listen at 7:40 every morning (and other times during the day) and find out who the artist of the day is. Then you log on to their website, punch it in and you get points. With your points you can enter to win prizes or accumulate a bunch and actually buy merchandise. Right now I'm working towards the Barbara Mandrell Tribute Album. It's been on my wishlist for months and if I can get it for free, even better!

One of the other things they have available is tickets to the premier of a movie called "Sharp as Marbles" starring Canadian Country Artist Adam Gregory. You may remember me seeing Adam in concert last July when he opened for Leann Rimes. Coincidently a show that I won tickets for through this station. Anyways, I picked up my tickets to the show yesterday. Curtis was there and although I didn't immediately recognize him (it is radio after all). I caught on pretty quickly and made a point of introducing myself. Now he'll know who I am when I harass him too LOL

Tomorrow night Meredith and I are going in for the movie. It's not a block buster or anything. I expect something fairly low budget but Adam says it's supposed to be funny (he was on air with Steve this morning) and he'll actually be there so maybe I'll get to say "hi" to him too!

~Heidi

A Lot of Leavin' Left To Do

Work has been pretty stressful lately. We're nearing the end of a funding cycle so there are a whole bunch of deadlines on major projects. Because of that, I *really* enjoyed this last weekend. I actually got Friday afternoon off. We won't talk about how high my stress level was due to the aforementioned deadlines. Suffice to say I was pretty happy to get out of there. I stopped off at a friends birthday party and then my friends Meliss and Rachel picked me up and we went up to Hemlock Mountain for the weekend. This is the fifth year that Melissa and her boyfriend, excuse me fiancee Jevon, have coordinated renting a cabin for the weekend. I think this was also the biggest group we've had. 13 people in total. It was a blast lots of food, board games, laughter and memories. The weather was HORRIBLE. By far the worst we've ever had. Sheets of rain coupled with strong winds. I stayed inside all weekend so for me, it wasn't a big deal. A few of them tried to go snowboarding though and they only got a handful of runs in before giving up because they were soaked to the bone. It was a fun time of no expectations, good conversation, and forgetting about "real" life.

Tomorrow? Back to the grindstone :)

~Heidi

Don't Cry Over Spilt Beer

During the second intermission at the hockey game our server brought a tray of drinks over. We asked him about Jeff Cowan, the 'new' player who was on fire! The server got excited telling Cowan's history and knocked two drinks off his tray. The one beer landed right beside me and spilled all over the ground. It missed me but soaked the bottom of my purse. Now my purse and the car seat where it rested on the way home, both smell vaguely of beer. It makes me smile everytime I get in the car because then I remember the game :)
~Heidi

Go Canucks Go!

Monday morning I received a phone call from my contact at the hotel where we hold our quarterly board meetings. She invited me to last night's Vancouver Canucks game as a thank you for doing business with them. (You may remember back in October when the same group treated me to dinner and a show: clicky)

Hockey has always been a part of my life. I have fond memories of listening to the game on dark wet winter evenings. We didn't get cable tv until I was 17 so the games were always experienced through the radio. I remember laying on my stomach on the living room floor with my handful of hockey cards and hoping to hear a name I recognized. I admit I didn't really "get" the game but I cheered when they scored, groaned when they missed and got excited over fights.

Over the years my interest has waxed and waned. I had a crush on Pavel Bure like every other female, teenage hockey fan. I cried when they lost game 7 of the Stanley Cup play offs in 1994. I still prefer hockey on the radio over the tv because I can multi-task, scrapbook or do other crafts while listening to the game. Lately I admit I haven't been paying much attention but it still holds a special place in my heart.

Prior to last night I had only attended one game live. I don't even remember what year it was. Before I started scrapbooking so 98 or 99. We were in the end zone on the upper deck. Not great seats as far as seeing goals being scored but Canucks won and that's what counts.

Last night we (the hotel contact and two other clients) were in club seats. Section 107, Row 20. I can't find the info on the features of the seats but it's a special section of GM Place. The best part is, you can order a meal while sitting in your seat! They just swipe your credit card and bring your food and drinks right to you. It's wonderful :)

The view was great. Close enough to see faces (we were facing the bench) but far enough away that you still could see the whole ice and the screen wasn't too far away for watching instant replays (unlike when I was at the Sonics game where I had to strain my neck to see the screen...I didn't even bother then).

Canucks won 5-1. The new kid, Jeff Cowan scored two goals and "my guys" Henrik and Daniel Sedin combined for four points. I call them "my guys" because the twins are about 10 months older then me so we've "grown up together". As a kid, all the rookies were eighteen. When you're ten, they're eighteen. When you're fifteen, they're eighteen. When you're twenty five, the rookies are STILL eighteen! When I was eighteen the Canucks signed Daniel and Henrik Sedin. Because we're roughly the same age, I've paid attention to their careers more then anyone. Of course they've each gotten married and now have kids but it's fun to compare their lives to mine.

Anyways, they combined for some pretty goals (along with line mate Kevin Bieksa) and I made a point of cheering very loudly :)

I didn't take any pictures. I thought about it but I was too busy eating and then cheering so I didn't bother. It was a great evening though. Gotta love the corporate perks :)

~Heidi

Word of the day #31: peccadillo

pec·ca·dil·lo /ˌpɛkəˈdɪloʊ/ Pronunciation Key [pek-uh-dil-oh]
–noun, plural -loes, -los. a very minor or slight sin or offense; a trifling fault.

Cool word! One of my co-workers used it today. I like it :)
~Heidi

I hate nagging

I *hate* nagging. Hate it. But sometimes it's the only thing that works. Seth and I both have a pretty relaxed approach to "housekeeping". We both leave things laying around, let the dishes pile up etc. Well I can't TELL you the last time he's actually done dishes. Finally yesterday I got on his case. He KNOWS it's his turn and they were getting pretty bad because neither of us had really been home. He was just laying on the couch though so I finally convinced him to get up. Strangley it was a bribe of licorice that actually got him off the couch. Anyways, the great thing about him starting was that he kept going. He washed the dishes (I will probably have to put them away but that's okay), he cleaned up a bunch of newspapers, he took the recycling and the garbage outside and did some other general clutter clean up. See? He CAN clean, he just doesn't do it very often.
~Heidi

Word of the day #30: sardonic

sar·don·ic /sɑrˈdɒnɪk/
–adjective characterized by bitter or scornful derision; mocking; cynical; sneering: a sardonic grin.

This was used twice on CMT tonight. I love it!
~Heidi