Kemah

After NASA Naomi and I headed to the Kemah Boardwalk for dinner. (The picture of the sign was taken at the end of the evening) We ate at Saltgrass Steakhouse and then went for a walk along the boardwalk.

We also took a ride on "The Beast" a speedboat that goes out into the Gulf of Mexico. It was interesting. It went really fast and the speed was fun. They took sharp turns trying to get the passengers wet but no one was really into it because it was so late in the day. The sunset on the way back in was pretty though.

Naomi was really surprised at how quiet it was. She said that normally the boardwalk is packed with people. This night it was VERY quiet.

There was a food dispenser so you could feed the catfish. It was crazy. You throw in maybe a dozen pieces of food and immediately the water is CHURNING with these ugly critters. I'm not sure how the ducks swam with all those fish there.

One of the popular parts of Kemah is the midway and amusement park rides. According to one website, with the closing of the last Six Flags in the area, Kemah is now the largest amusement park destination in the Houston area. I just really liked the way they painted the ground.

Kemah's a cute little town. It's a great place to eat dinner and kill some time.

~Heidi

New Cabinet

You may remember that I currently have two kitchen tables. One I got from Janis and a larger one with a leaf that my mom bought me earlier in the year. You may also remember that I have both of them in my dining area. The one from Janis is covered in scrapbook stuff and I eat on the one from mom. Having my scrapbook stuff in the front room is very convenient. I'm right beside the computer, I face the tv, there's better light here and the kitchen is right beside me. Like any normal scrapbooking space, it's rarely clean. That annoys me some days and I assume that it must bother Seth too. He keeps insisting that it doesn't and as long as there's room on the second table for him to eat he's fine. To the left is a picture of my scrapbooking table. Note my current project, his Hawaii album, on it :) For context, the next picture shows the table from Mom without the leaf and my front room.

So, Thursday I get a call at work. It's Seth "I can get a 5 foot long, 2 foot wide, almost 3 feet tall cabinet for free from work (he works for a local cabinet manufacturer). I was thinking we could put it in the dining room and you could store your scrapbooking stuff there. It will give you extra room on top and you can store your books and stuff underneath"

In my head I'm thinking "Let me get this straight, YOU are asking ME if it's okay if you bring home five feet of counter space which will enable me to spread my scrap crap around? And you're wondering if I'm okay with this?" Out loud "Yeah for sure, if you're okay with it"


So yesterday Seth enlisted Dad and the van to pick me up five feet of counter space!!! The cabinet doesn't have drawers (which would go in the middle) or doors yet but we can get them (we may have to pay but that's okay because this piece apparently is worth about $400 just as it is) I am very excited!!! Now I just have to get scrapbooking :)

~Heidi

The Heidi Show

Actually, it wasn't really. I just called Steve this morning to chat. When he answered I said "Hey Steve, it's Heidi" He immediately said "HEIDI! I thought you'd fallen off the face of the earth!" I said "Kind of. I was in Texas." Of course he launched into a whole routine about how I'd better not be calling about the great music I heard down there and asking for it to be played on this radio station because it will never happen. It was pretty funny how he said it. I assured him that I knew that. I had actually been calling about something that he didn't have information on yet so I gave him a hard time and that was basically it. We talked about a few other things that I can't publish but mostly I just wanted to share that it was nice to be missed ;)
~Heidi

Word of the day #33: chicanery

chi·can·er·y /ʃɪˈkeɪnəri, tʃɪ-/ Pronunciation Key - [shi-key-nuh-ree, chi-]
–noun, plural -er·ies.

1. trickery or deception by quibbling or sophistry: He resorted to the worst flattery and chicanery to win the job.
2. a quibble or subterfuge used to trick, deceive, or evade.

My boss used this word today in a letter. Pretty nifty!

~Heidi

Administrative Professionals Day

Yesterday, in honour of Administrative Professionals Day, each of the office staff recieved a beautiful bouquet and a $25 Starbucks card. It's great to be recognized!

~Heidi

My Jet Lag is Gone

I'm officially over my jet lag. It stinks. I was ENJOYING waking up early. It made it a LOT easier to get to work on time. The past three days I've been having a heck of a time actually getting out of bed. I'm squeezing into work at one and two minutes past the hour. Not good. I prefer to be a bit earlier.

I want to be back on Texas time!

~Heidi

NASA

I have opened a "new post" at least half a dozen times for this event but I just couldn't get inspired. I think it's because Tuesday, April 10th was the first day that Naomi and I were on our own so the full picture taking responsibility fell to me. For the first few days of our trip there were always other people around with cameras so I could say "oh, they're getting that shot I don't have to bother". Well this day, if *I* didn't take the picture, it wouldn't be taken. I am, by nature, VERY snap happy. That came out this day and I ended up with a BUNCH of pictures just of NASA. I've uploaded a bunch of them here (strangely, I found working from the end to the beginning actually worked the best). I have at least three times more then this that I'll have to make a decision about when it comes to scrapbooking this trip. Anyways. Onto the narration of NASA!

By Monday night the busy pace of our weekend was catching up with both Naomi and I. We agreed to not set alarms for Tuesday morning to see if we could catch up on our sleep a bit. Of course that was the night I received a text message from my dad at 1:45 am telling me that the Vancouver Canucks had just beat the Dallas Stars in fourth overtime. My response? I. Don't. CARE!!! Anyways, I slept until about 11 the next morning. Then we got up and headed over to NASA. It's kind of out in the middle of nowhere. I was surprised at how un-marked the roads were. If you didn't know where you were going you would have totally missed it. I'm not sure if it's because of the direction we came in from or if it really is that unmarked but it was interesting. When we finally got to the proper vacinity we turned on "Space Centre Boulevard" (or some other equally obvious name) We got up to the little booth (as seen to the left) and Naomi asked the guard "How much?"
He responded "Pardon me?"
She said "To park, how much?"
He laughed and said "Oh, you're looking for the visitors center. She c0nfirmed this with a nod and he continued "Just pay me a hundred dollars, take a u-turn here, go back out to the main road and follow it until you come to the two jets. Take a right in there and you'll find the visitors center".

We did find it, paid our admission and I got an audio tour guide. My friend Sue had toured NASA a few months before and she strongly suggested taking the Tram Tour as it actually takes you around the NASA compound instead of just the Visitor Center. Because it was so late in the day (we didn't arrive until almost two) we headed straight for the Tram. We got on in a decent amount of time and then we were off. Right is a picture of Naomi and I on the tram. The picture was taken by a guy who had a four year old daughter that befriended Naomi.

I didn't get a picture of them but at one point we passed a field that NASA is leasing to FFA (Future Farmers of America) they are raising cows there. Our tour guide made sure to point out that "these are not space cows nor are any of them the cow that jumped over the moon" :)

All the buildings at NASA are numbered. I don't remember what #17 was but it must have been special.

The large white tanks are full of liquid nitrogen. Temperature of MINUS 320o!!! It specifies 320oF but that is just COLD in any measurement!!! If I remember correctly the nitrogen is for simulating "zero gravity" for the astronauts.

Our first stop was at SVMF the "Space Vehicle Mockup Facility". This was DEFINITELY the best part of the whole trip for me. SVMF is the part of NASA that you see in all the movies. It's where the astronauts train. It's where the mock Shuttle is. It should be noted that being born in 1981, to me, space exploration IS the shuttle. That's what I think of. Not the walking on the moon stuff that happened during my parents generation. To me that's history. The shuttle is what I always heard about as a kid. In fact my brothers and I actually had a toy shuttle that I used to try to shove my Barbie's into. They were always too big but it was the thought that counted. So, seeing the Shuttle was very cool. The mock up of the International Space Station was pretty neat. Note the banners at the top of the picture at the right. Those are countries who are partners in the ISS. Canada, the European Union, Japan, Russian and others are there.
The second coolest part about the SVMF building was seeing actual astronauts at work. This guy is trying on a space suit!!!
I'm not totally sure what these people are doing but it looked pretty technical.

The big black area at the back of this picture is the "zero gravity" floor. Our guide was sure to point out that they can't simulate TOTAL zero gravity here on earth but this floor helps the astronauts get a feel for what it will somewhat feel like. He explained that it worked basically like a great big air hockey table.

Next, on the left I give you the source of Canadian national pride, the CanadArm" It was a *HUGE* deal when this piece of equipment was taken up to the ISS and put into use. I just liked seeing my beloved maple leaf on stuff ;)

From the SMVF we got back on the tram and toured more of NASA. They pointed out a bunch of different buildings (including, I'm sure, the one where some dude shot his co-worker the following week). Speaking of death, this grove of trees near the entrance to NASA is a memorial grove for all of the astronauts that have been lost. We paused in front of it and listened to George W. Bush's speach after Space Shuttle Columbia exploded.

Our next stop was to see the MASSIVE Saturn V rocket. The size of this thing is just mind boggling. I'm standing near the end of it and Naomi is a the front. I have a bunch of pictures of different parts of it all the way along but I'll spare you :)


Back in the Visitor Center we got to take a bunch of fun shots. Me in a "pod racer". Naomi in a skull (something about your bones and space)
Me on Mars ;)

Naomi...in...something and finally, the good bye sign outside NASA.


I've skipped all the pictures of the exhibits which we raced through. These were the fun pictures. I don't know that I actually *learned* anything by visiting NASA. It was more of an afirmation and reminder of what I did know and a great exposure to the world of space travel. It's a fascinating subject and I can see why people devote their lives to the study of it. So there you go. My trip to NASA. I hope you had a BLAST! :)

~Heidi

Secret Shame

x-post from SS

I have a secret. A big secret. One that, until today has even been affecting my social life.

What is my secret you ask?











I don't have a vacuum.

Sad huh? When I first moved in it wasn't a priority. Then by the time I decided I *really* needed one, it was Christmas. The fact that it's a larger ticket item (how can I can drop $XXX on scrapbooking but not on important things???) and the fact that I have an inability to PURCHASE large items (It took me four months to buy my car after saving for three years and probably eight months to buy my digital camera), combined to push purchasing a vacuum down the priority list. I was preparing to buy one before I left for Texas but, again, travel was more important.

I am proud to finally say that today, I purchased my first vacuum. It's a pretty yellow so hopefully I'll be happy when using it. I know I was today! It feels GREAT! I can't wait to have people over now that I'm not concerned that they'll notice how sad the carpet was getting.

So, meet DD (Dirt Devil) Note that the canister is half full already? That's from going over my apartment ONCE. That's how bad I've needed it.

Is it strange to be this excited about an appliance?

~Heidi

Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was busy but not stressful. Friday I had my last night of dance for the season. We started with a Baron of Beef dinner and then danced for two hours. Because I missed the Monday before I left it has been almost three weeks since I was out there! It was nice to see everyone again.

Saturday I woke up fairly early and just enjoyed the quiet morning. Then I picked up Meredith and we took a drive into the town where I used to work. I needed to stop at the scrapbook store out there to get some ribbon I had promised to Deb, I needed an oil change (and it's cheaper out there and they are more friendly) and I wanted to go to a restaurant that I hadn't been to since I left. Unfortunately the restaurant has since closed :( I was very sad about that. We went to a different one but it wasn't the same.

Saturday evening I attended a reception for friends of mine who were married on March 30th in Ontario. They will be living out here though so our church hosted a reception to celebrate their wedding and welcome them to the community. It was a great evening full of laughter, fellowship and great food.

Sunday after church I invited myself over to Mom & Dad's for dinner. It was mostly leftovers from the potluck reception the night before but it was still yummy. It was nice to catch up with them a bit too. After dinner, even though it was overcast, we went for a walk around their neighbourhood and critiqued the homes and landscaping :D

From there I went home and did a few more pages in Seth's Hawaii album. I am *so* ready to be done with that silly thing and move on to my own pictures.

Sunday evening I went over to Mere's and walked her through the process of uploading photos to Snapfish. She's got all her pictures from Australia to deal with so we got her started on that. While they were uploading we watched "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition". Then it was back home where I watched "The Talented Mr. Ripley" on tv with Seth before going to bed.

So, a full weekend but not overwhelming. Just nice. Now I'm back to work. This is my first full week since my vacation. We'll see how I do ;)

~Heidi

Galveston

Monday, April 9th we went to Galveston, TX. We took a small ferry over to Galvestong and then went for a walk on the beach. It took a bit of coaxing on Naomi's part to get us Canadians to take off our shoes and enjoy the warm water in the Gulf of Mexico. We are used to cold Pacific Ocean water! Once we felt the warm gulf waters we started having a ton of fun. Here's the group L-R Amanda, Naomi, Lisa, Amy and me (Heidi)

This is one of my favourite photos of myself. The wind was blowing really hard and they convinced me to take my hair down and let it blow freely. Such a cool feeling!

Naomi and Michele
We love this photo of Amy. We kept telling her to watch out because it's going to show up as a perfume ad some day :)

We spent a lot of time running up and down the beach enjoying the wind and waves. This shot captures the feedom that we felt.
After playing on the beach we had lunch at Landry's. Then we headed into Houston for a quick shopping trip before Amy, Amanda, Lisa and Michele caught their flight home. (The Mustang is Naomi's. Amanda said that when she got home she kept looking for it because she was so used to following it!)

Once we got them to the airport, Naomi and I went shopping. I hit Macy's and a few stores in the mall and bought a bunch of new clothes, shoes and two purses. It was a lot of fun.

~Heidi

Six Degrees of Seperation

Saturday and Sunday were spent meeting LOTS of people. New people, people I'd heard about/knew about (six degrees of seperation anyone?) and renewing old friendships. It was wonderful if a bit overwhelming. I didn't take a lot of pictures but I hope to get more from others. Here's a shot of the "Canadians" (and a few Texans) in our Easter Sunday best.

Word of the day #33: in situ

in si·tu /ɪn ˈsaɪtu, -tyu, ˈsi-; Lat. ɪn ˈsɪtu/ Pronunciation Key - [in sahy-too, -tyoo, see-; Lat. in sit-oo]
1. situated in the original, natural, or existing place or position: The archaeologists were able to date the vase because it was found in situ.
2. Medicine/Medical.
a. in place or position; undisturbed.
b. in a localized state or condition: carcinoma in situ.

Random things that have made my day lately

• The fruit/veggie stand being open ALL week instead of just on weekends
• My Walmart getting self serve check out
• The sun shining
• Finishing my "to do" list items yesterday
• Being on Texas time and therefore finding it easier to get out of bed in the mornings
• The fact that the weekend is here and I have my last Friday night dance of the season tonight and a wedding reception tomorrow.
• Getting to wear all the new clothes and shoes I bought in Texas and receiving compliments daily
• Listening to the new music I aquired in Texas
• The java chip frappacino I am currently enjoying

Yep. Life is good :)

~Heidi

Swamp Tour

As previously posted, the swamp tour was a lot nicer then we expected. Our guide "Eli" was very friendly and knowledgeable. He is from Avery Island in Louisiana which is where Tabasco sauce is made. Check your bottle! I'll think of him everytime I see a bottle of Tabasco. The aligator on the right was the first one we saw. He was about 6 feet long.
The next one (left and swimming towards us below) was smaller. Only 2-3 feet but he was more active. I called him "cute" Eli didn't agree ;)

Here is me and the "cute" gator. Although he just looks like a log.

All of the trees and foilage were beautiful. Swamps are very peaceful places...until the motor boats fly through :(

Eli had us all looking for animals and interesting things on shore. I spotted some wild pigs!!! Everytime we'd point something out he'd say "Good eyes! You should be a guide. What are you doing this summer?" We used that line SO many times during the weekend. Spot a cute pair of shoes? "Good eyes! You should be a guide. What are you doing this summer?" LOL

Pick up trucks and red skies

I've already blogged about my first two days in Texas but I wanted to share these two pictures. This first one blew me away. We were travelling on I-10 and these two guys were in the back of a pick up! According to Naomi it's legal as long as they don't go over 50 mph. It's totally ILLEGAL no matter HOW fast you are travelling in Canada.

This was my first Texas sunset. Just a quick shot out the back window of the car. One of the verses from Dierks' "Every Mile a Memory" is:
Red sundown, out across the western sky
Takes me back, to the fire in your eyes
Texas stars, in a purple night
Not seein’ ‘em with you, baby
Oh, they never do look right, no

Here I actually got to see that in action :)

Welcome Back!

So I get into work this morning and I am greeted by a nice stack of documents on my desk. I open my computer expecting a couple dozen messages that will need to be dealt with and there's NOTHING! Nothing from almost two weeks. My initial reaction is "sweet! I got off easy" then reality kicks in. No messages? Not even spam? Not possible. I tell my boss and she says "oh you had messages alright. I set you a bunch myself". So I call our tech guy. He says "it looks like since there was information in the forward email line by default but the local copy button was not checked off that the messages may have been bounced to a non-entity and therefore all emails received during that time have been lost.

I am going to check more settings to see if there is any hope of getting them back but I am not certain."

The forward email line refers to the fact that we set an out off office auto-reply the day I left and it seems to have forwarded all my messages to a "non-entity" aka cyber space.

It's brutal. I know there is a ton of stuff I should be dealing with but I CAN'T! Not cool. Not cool at all. I'm slowly moving forward but I feel like I'm missing my right leg.

Uggh. Welcome back!

~Heidi

fajitas, alligator and crawfish

My first update from Texas! The flight to Houston was uneventful. I had plenty of time to spare before hand and I slept for about an hour on the plane. Naomi was a bit late getting to the airport and then we had an interesting time finding the rest of our group who had gone to rent a car but we figured it out. We went straight to Pappasito's for Mexican food. Yummy chicken fajitas all around. Then Naomi and I were going to go shopping but traffic was so backed up that we just gave up and came back to her house (everyone else went to their hotel). We had a relatively early night.

This morning we got up, stopped at Target where I picked up a shirt and a cardigan and then we went on a Swamp Tour! It was a lot of fun. Not as gross or yucky as you might imagine. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and we saw probably five alligators up close and a few off in the distace. There were lots of turtles and fish and birds too. The tour actually took us into Louisiana too! So I can officially say I've been there now :)

From there, after seeing all the gators swimming around, we decided we wanted to see what they tasted like. So, we headed over to Pappadeaux. Gator is good! Kind of chickeny tasting. I did have a few pieces that were a bit fishy but I could totally see myself eating that on a regular basis.

My meal was crawfish. Fried and not fried but in sauce on "dirty" rice. I split my lunch size with a friend and neither of us finished! WAY too much food :)

Tonight we're off to church for the first of three Easter meetings. Afterwards I hear the plan is to go find some BlueBell ice cream.

The weather has been nice so far but there's supposed to be a storm moving in. Not great since we have a picnic scheduled for tomorrow but we'll work with it.

~Heidi

T minus 16 hours

Phew! Today my boss decided it would be good to do some spring cleaning. I spent the morning organizing holiday decorations (Christmas, Halloween etc). I escaped for lunch and thankfully by the time I got back most of the rest of the clean up was done. There will be a run to the dump on Monday or Tuesday but thankfully I’ll avoid that.

My files are cleaned up, my boss has been briefed and given a tour of my office so she knows where to go to find stuff. My “Out of Office Assistant” is turned on with a friendly reminder that I’m not here to answer any enquiries.

I am ready to get out of here. I have some last minute packing to finish up and I understand that there’s an “artic front” blowing in to Texas so I may add some more warm clothes to my suitcase.

Robert’s down for the weekend so I’m going to have dinner with him at Mom and Dad’s house this evening.

16 hours till my plane leaves! EEK! That sounds so short!!! Think about it, by this time tomorrow I will be IN Texas probably stuffing my face with Mexican food :D

~Heidi

I think I'm packed

I'm not totally sure. This was the *hardest* time I've ever had packing. I have a ton of clothes and about six pairs of shoes. Hopefully it's enough. I mean it's not like I'm going into the wilderness. I can do laundry if I need to. I just don't want to :P The hard part was trying to process "summer". It's not "summer" here so it's hard to wrap my head around warm weather and dressing for it.

Anyways, that's done. Now I just have to remember my toothbrush and hair stuff and I should be fine.

~Heidi

Oops

I was tired yesterday afternoon. It could have been from my late night on Sunday, it could have been that I had a fairly carblicious lunch. In any case I went home after work and laid down for a bit. Dance started at 7pm. I woke up at 7:50. Oops! That was supposed to be my last regular night too. Oh well. I obviously needed the sleep over the excercise.
~Heidi

What?

I stopped at Starbucks yesterday and ordered my grande-no-water-no-foam-extra-hot-soy-chai. The barista looked at me and with a straight face said "you can only have one 'no' per drink". I was SPEECHLESS!!! I couldn't figure out why they would deny such a small request when it's not like it makes a big difference to them cost wise and it's how I like my drink and, aren't they all about "customization" and making it the way the customer wants and, well, then he said "April Fools" and I settled down. He TOTALLY got me though!!!
~Heidi

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