Gimme a T, gimme an E, gimmie and X-A-S!!!

Soooo...it looks like the stars are aligning and I might just be able to go to Texas for Easter!!!

Texas!

Finally. I have wanted to visit for what, fifteen years? At least. Since my parents went in 1990. I know a bunch of people down there. Lots through my church and many through the internet. I just got an email back from Naomi...if you remember, she came up from Texas last summer. I brought her up from the airport in Seattle and we hung out a bit. Anyways, she's agreed to put me up while I'm down there. She's in the Houston/Beaumont area.

I'm thinking that if I go ALL the way down there, I want to make it worth my while so I may try and get up to Dallas/Fort Worth too. Hey Sherilyn, is your offer still open? :D

I'll keep you up-to-date on the process of booking vacation/flights etc. I am SO excited!!!

~Heidi

This is getting old

It's snowing. Again. Hard. I got sent home from work. Again. Of course that's not hard :P but I'm getting tired of it. I can't work from home. I need to be in my office surrounded by my files and with all my supplies and stuff right at my finger tips.

I didn't sign up for weather like this. I live where I do for a reason. It's normally balmy and normal. Rain for days, weeks, months at a time. I'm good with that. This white stuff? Not so much. We already HAD a big dump of it this year. That should be sufficient.

And what's with the weather people being right all of a sudden? They've been talking about snow and flurries etc for awhile but I just ignored them. Today I woke up to three inches of snow. C.R.A.Z.Y!!!

Anyhow, it's a bit slushy so I'm hoping it will act like proper SW BC snow and MELT. Honestly. Go away already.

~Heidi...who is obviously NOT a snow fan...

quickly

The concert was fantastic as always. I'm swamped at work so I haven't had time to post a review. I'll get to it though. I promise. Along with my other adventures. Thanks for being patient :)
~Heidi

"You Get To Meet Dierks"

Have I mentioned this yet? One of perks of being in the fan club is that you can apply for Meet & Greet (M&G) passes. This will be the third(!) concert that I have attended since joining the fan club in May. This is the first time I have been successful in securing a M&G pass through them though. I haven't received the official email yet but the icon on the tour page says that I have been selected.

I've technically already met Dierks (as you all know) but a fan club M&G is special. Only 16 people are selected. From what I understand, you go in, get an autograph and a picture and then you actually get to hang out for a bit. You're not just herded through like with the radio M&G's. Apparently he spends a bit of time chatting and stuff. I'm really looking forward to it! It means, again, that I'll miss some of the opening acts but I'm okay with that.

Oh, and for those paying close attention, I didn't get the Doc Walker M&G. I'm okay with that too though.

~Heidi

First Baby of the New Year

Jenna had her baby! A little boy that they've named Grant Rudyard. Grant after her dad and Rudyard after Rudyard Kipling. (Will is a huge fan of his). Grant finally made his entry into the world by c-section on Tuesday, January 2nd just after 10 o'clock at night. He weighed in at a whopping 11 pounds 9 ounces!!! He's also 23 1/2 inches long though so he's not fat by any means. Just long. It's funny comparing him to Kingston (who was born in November). Grant is much bigger already! He looks exactly like his daddy too. I didn't stay very long because I'm still just getting over this cold. I didn't bother taking pictures either. I'll have plenty of opportunity to get them in the future. When I do, I'll share them with you.

Congratulations Jenna & Will!

~Heidi

New Mug

Look at the cute mug I got from Starbucks today. It was only $2.99!!! You can't pass that up!

I got a non-fat-sugar-free-Cinnamon-Dolce because Deb and I had been talking about it earlier. Cinnamon Dolce is her FAVOURITE drink and she was SO sad when they stopped making it earlier in the year. Now that it's back, she's had three already LOL

I didn't remember liking it but I figured I'd give it a chance. No go. It's way too sweet for me. That's okay. All the more for Deb :)

~Heidi

PS If anyone cares, I bought this with the last of the Starbucks card I got from my SS Secret Santa. This way I'll think of her everytime I use it!

Magic Show

Last night Mom, Dad and I had tickets to see magic show that was in town. We got them from a lady at church and when we got to the show we recognized probably two dozen people also from our church! The main magicians were the same people who did a show that Mom, Dad and I saw at the PNE this summer. They had a few guests though. Normally I'm not a huge fan of magic shows. I don't mind them but I'm too skeptical to be really "wowed" by them. Yesterday though we had two six year olds and a three year old sitting in front of us. (The older two were in my Sunday School class back when I taught it) Watching them watch the show was so fun. Childhood innocence is a wonderful thing :) The additional guests were a nice touch too. It was fun and I'm glad I went.

~Heidi

Update Jan 3, 2007

Eeek. So I’m *really* behind on my blogging. I’m going to blame it on being sick though. That and vacation. So lets see, where did I leave off? Sometime last week right? The past two weeks were full of holiday parties. Pretty much every second night I had something. Starting with dinner with my SS friends, then Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day (which I spent with Meredith as I posted) Wednesday, December 27th I had a dinner party with all of my Creative Memories sister consultants. I haven’t been a consultant for over a year now but they still included me in their holiday party. It was wonderful. They are a fantastic group of ladies. I’ve attended a few retreats with them so there is a special bond there. I can’t wait to see them again.

Friday, December 29th I had my high school friends over for a holiday party/games night. Melissa brought her brand new Scene-it DVD game so we played that and then Whoo-nu. I’m proud to say that I wasn’t last at Scene-it. I thought for sure that I’d do horribly but I managed to go with my gut on a few questions and actually score some points.

Saturday, December 30th I went shopping for scrapbooking supplies. I knew that a few of the LSS’s were planning major boxing week sales so I did a loop and hit three of them plus Michaels. At the last one I scored a bunch of Basic Grey paper at 40% off. Monday I took and did power layouts with my DC pictures. Now to sit down and scrapbook them!

Sunday, December 31st was New Years Eve. I had two parties to attend but since I was already not feeling that well, I didn’t head out until around 7:30. I stayed at the first party for an hour or two and then was at the second one through midnight. There was *lots* of food and friends at both so they were really fun.

Between the parties I talked to my friend Jenna. She’s due to have her first child any day now but the little guy is taking his sweet time in coming. During the course of our conversation I mentioned that I had won that second set of Dierks tickets. Jenna handed the phone to her sister Katherine and it looks like Katherine will be taking the tickets off my hands! She has a friend who will come with her and we’re all going to car pool together. That’s a huge load of my chest. Not knowing what was going on with those tickets was really bugging me. Now I just have to hear on the meet and greet passes I’ve applied for.

Monday I was supposed to go for dinner at a family friends but I called Mom around two and I could hardly form my words. My throat was so sore. Obviously I didn't go. Mom came over with some neo-citron and Halls and stayed for a round of Scrabble. I beat her 390-292. It was great :) Yesterday (Tuesday) I did come into work but I only lasted till about 10 o’clock when I had to go home and sleep. Seth is suffering from the same cold, which I caught from my boss. The benefit of catching a cold from your boss is she is the one convincing me to not push it if I’m not feeling well because she knows exactly how I feel. Yesterday I slept for most of the day but managed to squeeze in a couple rounds of Scrabble too. It doesn't take any physical exertion and it felt good to use my head rather then just laying there.

I’ve made it through today okay but I’m looking forward to going home and relaxing. I’ve got a quiet weekend planned and dance doesn’t start back up till next week so I’m enjoying the break.
I have done some scrapbooking over the past few days as well and that feels nice. I’ve been away from it for too long.

I hope everything is well with each of you. Thank you for the well wishes on my last post.

~Heidi

Sick :(

Sorry for not posting for forever. I'm not feeling well though. In fact I'm going home right now. No point in pushing it :(

I'll update when I'm feeling better.

~Heidi

Passport

I got my passport yesterday. I had to go pick it up from the post office becuase a signature was required. Works for me! My head was slightly in the picture so they just re-aligned it. Now my shoulders are out of whack. Oh well. At least they accepted the picture.

The interesting part is that if I am "abroad" and need assistance but there is no Canadian Consulate or anything, I'm directed to the British office. Guess there's perks to being part of the Commonwealth after all!

I'm just glad to finally have a passport. It's only about six years in the making :P

~Heidi

Mere's Home!!!

Seven hundred and seven days. That's approximately how long Meredith was in Australia. Just under two years. Yes she visited for eighteen days in the middle of that last year. Yes we talked infrequently on the phone and by email/blogs/myspace but there is something wonderful about having your best friend in the same time zone as you.

She arrived in Vancouver on Christmas morning. We both had family commitments for Christmas day so we did took care of those. Boxing Day (Tuesday, December 26th) was just for us though. I picked her up around 11 and we headed into Vancouver.

We had lunch at Steamworks Brewery down by water front station. I took this picture just after lunch. Then we wandered around downtown. We went through Pacific Centre where she bought me a awesome purse that I needed very badly. We went to Starbucks where she spilt her Pumpkin Spice Latte :( but got a new one from the nice SB people :) We went and saw "The Holiday" which we both thoroughly enjoyed. And then we went home. Mostly, we just enjoyed being together. Knowing that, for the future anyways, we're just a short drive away.

It's good to have you back Best Friend!!!

~Heidi

Christmas Pictures

To start, the Christmas tree. Its the first one we've had in this house but it turned out very nice. Mom did most if not all of the decorating and she kept it quite simple. I don't know if you can see here or not but there is a whole flock of handmade ceramic angels near the top. Those are courtesy of my paternal grandmother. (if you click on the picture it should make it bigger and you may be able to see them better)

On to the gifts. There were lots of nice gifts given and received. Robert and I both got a bunch of kitchen stuff. The best reaction was when Mom opened this clock from me. I don't think I've posted about it yet. A few, actually, MANY months ago, Mom gave me the six pictures seen here. They are the first grade photos from her, my dad and each of us four kids. She asked me to do something with them so they could be displayed some how. I put it off and put it off but in September or so Anne (from dinner on Friday) found these awesome clocks somewhere online. They had to be ordered in bulk so she ordered a dozen and we each bought some off of her. When I had the clock in hand I brought the pictures to work, scanned them, re-sized them so they were uniform and added the years. Then I printed them off, cut them down and popped them into the slots along with some Basic Grey paper. I kept the decoration very simple because I wanted the focus to be on the clock itself. Anyways, Mom was *thrilled*. She's not sure where she's going to hang it but she was SO happy with what I came up with. I guess there is something to be said for home made gifts :)

Instead of getting Aaron a bunch of smaller gifts, we all chipped in and gave him a Play Station 2. Because it was such a special gift, I didn't want to just GIVE it to him. I made him work for it by doing a short treasure hunt. I gave him a clue that said "a star shall lead them". On the back of the star on the nativity scene was another piece of paper that said "PIP". That refers to "Picture in Picture" my dad's *favourite* feature on the tv downstairs. on the side of the tv was a paper that had the first part of Aaron's email address. That meant he had to check his email where he found a message that I had sent just before we started opening gifts. That one said "Squeaky Clean" which led him to the bathroom where I had placed the wrapped PS2 on a towel in the bathtub. He was really excited about the game system and forgave me for putting him through the paces like that :) It should be noted that the tshirt and necklace he is wearing were also gifts from Seth.

On Christmas morning it is SO easy to take a zillion pictures. I tried to limit them this year and I made a point of also handing over the camera so I was included. I was designated elf this year so I sat by the tree and distributed the gifts. This picture is me holding a martini glass from Seth & Robert. Remember I posted a few months ago that I'd like to collect funky ones? Well this is number two and it is truly funky. The stem has black and silver stripes on it. Very cool.

Here is a picture of everything I got:
- Measuring cups from mom & dad (one cup, two cups and four cups)
- The martini glass
- Hand Mixer from mom & dad, which I really needed/wanted. The one I have is Mom's old one but there is only one beater. It's frustrating so I'm excited to have a proper one.
- Wooden spoons from Mom & Dad
- A book called "Let's Call it Canada" which has all sorts of trivia on how different places in Canada got their names (also from Mom & Dad)
- Cheese knives and picks from Robert (he knows how much I adore cheese so this is perfect)
- The new Doc Walker cd from Seth. I gave him the name of about ten cd's that I want and this is the one he picked. I'm SO happy. I mean I'll be seeing them live in less then two weeks, it would be good if I am familiar with their new music. I've been listening to it almost non-stop in the car and each time I hear it I like it more. Some people might find it weird to get music for Christmas considering the number of cd's I buy for myself on a regular basis. The thing is, everytime I listen to this cd now I'll think of Seth so it makes it extra special.
- The black thing with Pooh bear on it is a cd holder for my visor. I'll get lots of use out of it.
- Down front is a very pretty candle holder from Aaron. It's shaped like a flower and the petals are a shell of some sort from the Phillipines (he thinks...he doesn't really remember :))
- And last but not least, my very own SCRABBLE DICTIONARY!!! I was SO excited about that LOL. It's one version newer then Mom's and all the pages are intact (her J, Y and Z pages have fallen out). We've already gotten lots of use out of it and I can't wait to use it more.

So that was our Christmas. I'll leave you with a few shots of us playing games. Seth having a conversation with the rabbit and me enjoying dessert while keeping score for Scrabble.

It was a good day. I hope your holiday was as enjoyable as mine!

~Heidi

Christmas 2006

Well, I logged onto blogger a few times over the holiday but I never got around to actually writing anything coherent. Let’s see if I can capture the last few days for you.

Friday after work I went straight to the Christmas party for my old work. It was nice to see everyone there. They had a chocolate fountain too which was yummy!

From there I headed South to Bellingham where I met up with a bunch of SS sisters for (what I hope is) our first annual Christmas dinner. It was absolutely wonderful. We all arrived around six (except Sue who made sure to get there early so we had a table) and didn’t look at our watches until ELEVEN O’CLOCK!!!

Here’s the group picture we took. Back: Sue, Heidi, Darrcie, Ann. Front: Anne, Deb, Charlynn.

Ann was visiting from Colorado and she was the main reason for our get together. It was wonderful to see everyone though. Like I told Deb in an email later on, I left the restaurant on Friday with the warmest fuzziest feeling. It is awesome to be able to call such fantastic group of ladies my friends.

I hit Walmart on the way home. Didn't spend very much but man was it busy!!!

Saturday I needed to finish up my shopping. It was a very grey day and it was drizzling a bit but I put on my hoodie and my tennis shoes and went for a walk. From my house I can do a loop around the historic downtown in a very short time period. It felt good to walk and get some fresh air instead of dealing with traffic and trying to find parking spots. Of course that came later when I hit the mall.

Oh, I forgot, Robert arrived just before I got home on Friday night. He, Seth and I sat around and chatted for awhile and then at 1:30 am (AM) we STARTED a game of Scrabble. Well, we finished it too. I won that one. It was one of many games this weekend.

So Saturday I finished most of my shopping (I picked up the last gift on Sunday after church). Saturday night we had dinner at my parents. Seth and Robert have decided that Scrabble is the best game out there, which is *perfectly* fine with me. I used to have to bribe them to play with me so I'm loving this new attitude. We ended up having another rather late night but it was worth it. There is nothing quite like sitting around with family and laughing yourself silly.

Sunday, as mentioned was church. Afterwards, in honour of my dad's fiftieth birthday, we went out for dinner. Strangely enough, we went to Olive Garden. That's where I went with my SS friends on Friday. I swear I haven't been to OG in two years (basically since Meredith left) and this weekend I hit it twice in three days! Not that I'm complaining. They do have good food and the portions are huge so I make a point of bringing half of it home and freezing it for lunch. It was weird to go there so close together though.

After dinner we went back to my parents house were we played a few more rounds of Scrabble, a game of Risk (I made a valiant effort to hold on to Australia but Seth's army was too strong) and Yahtzee. We also continued with our Christmas tradition of begging for "just ONE present". Dad opened a few birthday gifts and and we passed out some stocking stuffers too. Stocking stuffers traditionally have been 90% edible in our house. This year the tradition continued.

Robert came back with Seth and I to our place overnight. In the morning I slept in somewhat and then wrapped presents!!! The boys had only finished their shopping the day before so we wrapped up all the gifts and then headed back over to Mom & Dad's. (In case you're wondering it's only about 3kms from our house to theirs so running back and forth isn't a big deal). We got there around noon and proceeded to take our time opening gifts (just like we like it).

I'm going to put the res of this as a seperate post because I've uploaded pictures.

~Heidi

The Heidi Show...the one where Heidi says "Merry Christmas"

So this morning Doug was encouraging callers to phone in and send out Christmas wishes. I waited until I was on the road and called him and sent out a "Merry Christmas to my mom Lorry and my littlest brother Aaron, who should be on his way to school right now providing Mom didn't let him sleep in". Doug and I chatted on air briefly about how old Aaron is, what my plans were for the day (two consecutive Christmas parties starting at 4pm) and how nice it will be to be off for a few days.

A couple of minutes after we said good bye, my cell phone rang. It was Aaron, he and Mom had just gotten in the van to take him to school and they heard Doug say "Heidi!" so they turned up the radio and heard the whole thing!!! It was awesome :D

Aaron's going through a bit of "teenager attitude" right now but I could hear the excitement in his voice about having his name mentioned on the radio. I emailed Doug when I got to work and told him that he made our day and he wrote back to say it was "his pleasure". Have I mentioned how much I'm going to miss him?

BTW I do have two Christmas parties today. I'm making an appearance at the party for my old job. As a director it's only right. From there I'm heading down to Bellingham for dinner with my SS friends.

After I leave work today my internet access will be sporadic until I get back next Wednesday. I'll try and post from Mom and Dad's though.

~Heidi

Picking up the tickets

I raced over to the radio station yesterday after work. I had to be there before five and I got there by 4:50 something. They're doing renovations so I had to ring a doorbell and wait while someone came to open the door. There were two women there one named Tracy and another one who left shortly after I arrived. While Tracy got the tickets I admired all the signed photos of artists who had been in the studio (many of which I have as well but that's another topic). I commented on them to Tracy and we ended up talking about meeting artists, winning tickets, how the radio business works and a whole bunch of things. I was there for probably a half an hour! I mentioned that I had talked to Steve the day before and she was like "do you want to meet him?" Of course I said yes. She took me in and showed me the news room and then when Steve was off air (during a song) she took me INTO the studio, introduced me and I got to see the control panel and computer equipment that they use. It was AWESOME! I felt like a little kid :D

I've decided that I definitely don't want to be IN radio, but it was fascinating to learn about it.

As for the tickets, I'm not totally sure what I'll do with them. The ones I already have are much better seats. Well, they're not even seats. I have general admission tickets for the reserved section up front. The tickets I won are row 14, section Z, the corner section of the concert bowl. I'm debating whether I should give them away or try and sell them to re-coup some of my costs for the tickets I *did* buy.

Anyone wanna buy some tickets? I'll give you a good deal! :D

~Heidi

So. Many. Things. To. Post!!!

This is what happens when you don't blog for a few days. A bunch of things happen and then you don't know where to start!!! I'm going to have to go with a brain dump style entry and see if I can capture it all.

The Heidi Show Part III aka the sad chapter
I was on the radio again on Monday. Doug, the morning show host, announced on Friday that he was leaving the radio station. I didn't actually hear the announcement on Friday but I heard a re-cap on the weekend so Monday morning I called to confirm it. It's sad because, as you all know, I really enjoy waking up to him every morning and calling him periodically. But, he had a great opportunity open up in Calgary so I'm trying to be happy for him.

The interesting part about this edition of the Heidi Show was that my mom actually heard it being broadcast! That was kind of cool.

Dierks is Coming
My boss doesn't quite get my love of country music but she tries. She knows all about the concerts and the fact that I got to meet Dierks in Everett (I've framed the picture of the two of us and it sits on my desk :D) Yesterday, in passing, she mentioned "By the way, your guy Dierks is coming to Vancouver in January" I laughed and said "Yes, I know, I have tickets already!"

Insider Info
Yesterday afternoon I made a mad dash to an LSS for some supplies I needed for a gift I'm making. On the way back I called the DJ who does the afternoon drive show. His name is Steve. At 5 pm they do the "Top Five at Five". Basically, each day, listeners vote for their favourite songs and at five o'clock the ones with the most votes are played. I wanted to suggest that they create a write in box so we can vote for songs that may not be listed. I ended up talking off air with Steve for at least ten minutes. He gave me a bunch of information on how the radio process actually works, what they can and can't do and why I can or can't request certain songs. It was f.a.s.c.i.n.a.t.i.n.g!!!

Horseshoes
Remember back in October when I found out that Dierks was coming to Vancouver? And how I found out? By checking the Doc Walker website for tour dates and seeing that they are opening for Dierks? If you don't, here's the link: Dierks Day As I mentioned in that post, Doc Walker was my first "concert" and the first artists that I met after the show. My first "real" concert was George Strait & Dierks at the Pacific Coliseum (where he'll be headlining in January, about two and a half year after opening for George!)

The radio station (the same one I mentioned twice earlier in this post) is giving away tickets to the show and everyone who wins tickets is entered to win meet and greet passes with the Doc Walker boys.

Guess who won tickets this morning?

Isn't that insane??? I mean I already HAVE tickets. General Admission ones at that but I'd really like to talk to the Doc Walker boys again and I knew the answer oh so difficult trivia question that Doug put out this morning. "What is Dierks middle name". Answer? "He doesn't HAVE one." Anyways, I tried calling and lo-and-behold, I got through. I haven't won anything since this summer when I got Leann Rimes tickets from the same station. Keep in mind that this is the same station that gave me the Dierks tickets in the first place.

Crasy isn't it? Oh and get this, I'm picking the tickets up this afternoon. Guess who I claim them from? Steve! The afternoon drive guy. I was going to email him this morning to say "thanks for talking to me yesterday" but I figure I'll tell him in person instead.

BTW my co-workers have decided that I don't just have lucky horseshoes up my butt but the whole stinkin' horse!!! (s'cuse the crude illustration :P)

~Heidi...aka Miss Lucky :D

Square Dancing

DianaSioux left the following comment on my last blog entry:

Hey, I didn't know you square danced! I remember doing a section of that in PE in grade school. Everyone moaned and groaned because it was so "uncool", but I secretly enjoyed it.

I'm replying to it here because it deserves it's own post :)

Obviously, you all now know I square dance. People ask why I started and I always tell them "Because it's the only "A" I ever got in high school PE!" LOL It's true. In grade ten during the winter quarter we had square and line dancing and then first aid. I got 93% that semester. I hated gym. I think I did better that semester because I didn't have to change into a gym strip. In grade ten there were five PE classes running at the same time. The girls grade ten, boys grade ten, French nine and two grade eight classes. The previous unit had run over so the girls and boys grade ten classes ended up dancing together (as opposed to with the grade eights) That class was so much fun. We actually tried a version of round dancing then too (something we wouldn't have done with the younger kids)

Anyways, when I started my last job I was in a new town. I saw the ad for square dancing in the paper and thought I'd try it. I need to be more active and this seemed like a good way to do it. I convinced a friend of mine to dance with me for the first few months but they he backed out because he just didn't have time. Since then I've made do with a variety of other partners. My "regular" partner is a guys who's wife doesn't dance. We have fun together.

Typically I dance Plus on Monday nights and Mainstream on Thursday's. Thursday is also when the beginners come so it's a lower level of dance. It's good for refreshing and review.

I have about a dozen skirts and four crinolines already too. I've been given a bunch, I've bought a few and my mom even made me one. I'll try and take pictures of them some time for you.

So there you go, I am a square dancer :)

~Heidi

Weekend Re-cap

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine was pretty good.

Friday, as previously posted, was our annual Christmas Dance. This marks two years since I started square dancing. I really noticed how much I've improved over the last year. In 2005, at the Christmas dance, I sat out for about half of them tips because I wasn't comfortable dancing at the level they required. This time I only sat out on a few round dances (round dances and square dancing are two related but different styles of dance. The biggest difference is that squares require eight people. Rounds are just one couple moving around the room in a big circle. I can do two-step rounds but not waltzes.) Anyways, I was quite proud of myself. Yes we messed up a few times but over all I had a great time. Dinner was yummy too :)

Saturday I thought I was doing well, I got up at a decent hour and had breakfast but my mom called WAY before I was ready to go. The plan was to go shopping in Bellingham (since that's the closest Target to me). Once I got over my shock of not having as much time to get ready as I had anticipated, the day got rolling and it was good. Mom, Seth and I went to Target. I ended up being the only one who actually bought anything though. That means I have exactly 29% of my christmas shopping done. (For my immediate family. The only gifts I feel I HAVE to buy. The rest are all optional)

Sunday after church I went to Mom & Dad's for lunch...again. Hey, they invited me! I ended up leaving really soon after eating though. My house was a mess and I *had* to get home to clean it. Luckily while I did dishes Seth tied up and took out the garbage and stuff. That helped a lot. It was stressing me out to live in such an untidy home.

After finishing the dishes I ran to the grocery store for a few essentials like yogurt for breakfast, mandrin oranges and brown sugar. I'm still on my grocery ban and I'm doing pretty well with it :) The funny thing is this morning I got to work and on my desk was a bunch of chocolate and a gift card for the grocery store! I promise I won't use it till the new year though :)

Yesterday evening after cleaning up, Seth and I went over to Mom and Dads. We went under the pretense of decorating their tree but we ended up having a scrabble marathon instead. I was royally trounced on the first two rounds and on the third one I was winning until mom spelled "KO" with her last letters. Is KO an acceptable scrabble word? That's under debate right now :P

So yes, it was a good weekend. I have a list a mile long to deal with this evening. I shouldn't have any problems tackling it though.

~Heidi

Update

Hey there,

Not much to report. I'm kind of stressing out about Christmas but I think I have a plan in place. Hopefully I'll have something positive to report after the weekend.

Tonight I'm going to the Christmas Dinner/Dance for square dance. It's always a good time with lots of good food so I'm looking forward to it.

Hope you all have a happy, stress free weekend.

~Heidi

My 2006 Christmas Letter

Because I haven't seen any of my extended family for a year and a half, I wrote the letter below, photocopied it onto Christmassy paper and sent it out along with this picture of me:

(this version of the letter has been slightly edited for internet usage)

Seasons Greetings to you and yours,

I admit I never thought I would be one of those people who sent out a Christmas letter but since 2006 was such a full year for me and because I wasn’t able to make it out to visit any of you, I thought it would be appropriate.

Highlights of 2006 by the month

December 2005 – Given 12 weeks notice that my contract with CFDC would not be renewed after almost seven years. Immediately offered a different position with the parent company which, after much thought, I turned down in January. (Sometimes change is good).
January – Offered a position as a part-time house sitter. I split my time between there and home for the next six months. Started serious job search.
March – On the last day of my employment with CFDC I was hired as the Executive Assistant at the XXXX.
April – Went to a Seattle Sonics game with my friend Darrcie. Our seats were on the second row up from the floor!
June – Took a four night “Writing for the Executive” course at SFU Harbour Centre (Downtown Vancouver)
July – Robert moved to Vernon, BC to take over management/ownership of a Domino’s Pizza store
July 28 – Three days before my 25th birthday and a week after I finished house sitting, I moved into an apartment with Seth. We work opposite shifts so it’s a perfect arrangement.
August – Camping in Vernon. Invited to sit on the Board of Directors for CFDC (they don’t want to let me go!)
September 6-9 – Global Buyers Mission trade show in Whistler, BC with the XXXX.
September 22-30 – The XXXX’s Annual General Meeting was in Philadelphia, PA. I talked my boss into letting me fly out early and spend the weekend visiting friends in Virginia. We spent one afternoon doing a whirlwind trip of Washington, DC and a day of touring a early 19th century plantation and Mount Vernon, home of the first president of the United States, George Washington. The week in Philadelphia was fantastic. There is SO much history there. I had one full day for sightseeing there as well.
October – Thanksgiving in Vernon with Robert. Also saw the impressive Adam’s River Sockeye Salmon Run.
November – Visited friends in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island

Between attending country concerts (Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Leann Rimes, Dierks Bentley and others), scrapbook retreats, and church, card making, square dancing, working, volunteering, keeping house and attempting to have a social life, I’ve been busy.

I hope this letter finds each of you well.