counting the things I've done pt. 2

Once again I have totally blanked on my blogging duties.  I do have a few reasonable excuses – I spent much of February traveling.  And then quite a bit of March sitting on my ass doing nothing.  But what else is new?  So here it goes – another list counting of things I’ve been doing whilst not updating my blog:

1. A trip to NYC - really, you ask? That seems like kind of a big deal, why haven’t you mentioned it until now?  See excuse number two above.  Went with the guy mentioned in my 1997-1998 journal – the boy in question who I planned to break up with even though we weren’t actually dating.  We’re still not dating, so why would we go to NY together you wonder?  Not sure really, except that for some reason we are still friends and seem to see each other every 4 years, in kind of awesome locales – Chicago, Banff, Paris, St. Moritz and NYC.  Was a super fun trip – not much to report really.  Hit up some good restaurants, wandered the streets of Soho, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge (pictured here in blurry instagram glory), went to the Met, watched the skaters of Central Park, etc. It's still not clear to me how we've managed to stay friends these past 15 years, whilst living in 10 different cities on 2 different continents, but we have, and it's pretty cool.
2. A few days of skiing – not enough really, but still good.  Two of the days were with the bride who prompted the ultimate wedding dos & don’ts list (and yes, I'm going to hell for continuing to bash it almost 2 years later).  At any rate, there have been a few snowstorms in the past month and so I’ve had a couple of powder days which were fab.  Hope to get a few more days in before the end of the season.
3. Work trips – to really exciting places like Wallaceburg, ON, Fort Nelson, BC and Wetaskiwin, AB.  On the first one I had some angry farmers question my integrity.  On the second one I went for drinks at a Boston Pizza where we were the only women in the bar.  On the third one, one of the SWAG items was a little case holding mints and toothpicks.  Those really are the highlights.
4. A drag show – self-explanatory.
5. Watching Friday Night Lights – I’m a late convert to the show, which means I’m watching all 5 seasons on itunes and on my PVR.  AH has been talking about it for years, but I never managed to watch it live, which is probably a good thing.  Watching all episodes back to back to back is awesome.  I’m slightly obsessed really.  I almost feel like I live in Dillon, TX.  And it makes me sad that I could never date Tim Riggins.  It also makes me sad that Taylor Kitsch’s  John Carter movie was so horrible.  He still looks good though.  And because he looks so good, I will forgive him for choosing another stupid movie to star in (Battleship) and go see it, if only because both Landry and Eric happen to be in it.
6. Wine – a few weeks ago we had an impromptu gathering for post-work bevies that went completely off the rails.  I met a Dutch guy who had just moved to 4 weeks previous and I’m pretty sure I impressed him with my ability to answer his skill testing question – how many Hollands fit into Alberta.  My answer was 20.  Everyone else guessed 4-6.  The real answer is 16.  So I won.  If I hadn’t had 5+ glasses of wine by that point, I’m pretty sure that I would have answered exactly 16.  SS met a guy who seems like a good guy, but he was uber-drunk and so when exchanging numbers, he gave her the wrong one.  Luckily they have a few friends in common.  One of the being Rat Guy (see – this blog always comes full circle)and so Drunk Jeff (also known as New Jeff and Good Jeff) emailed him to get SS’s contact info.  Rat Guy then had to swallow his pride and send her an email inquiring if it was ok for him to pass along her number.  They’ve had one date – the jury is still out, but it could be promising.
7. Research – AZ is going to NYC this week for work but whilst there is going to a “housewarming/birthday/magazine cover celebration” party.  It is being hosted by the mother a famous gentleman, who happens to be both single and a billionaire.  Sadly said gentleman won’t be there, but I still looked into his history and it’s a shame that he’s unavailable because AZ is already blonde and so could potentially have become the next Mrs. Musk.  Plus he’s building a spaceship to Mars (because that's a totally normal thing to do) and if she did some interplanetary travel, that would make a really great blog entry.  One that wouldn't take me two months to update.

it's the little things pt. 3

So this week has not been stellar, due to a variety of extenuating circumstances involving asshole husbands (not mine), crappy jobs (again not mine), and fathers in the hospital (this time it was mine, but it turns out he's fine). Plus it was colder than it needed to be for April 7th and so I was feeling rather down on my walk home from work. But then, about 3 blocks from home, the sun came out, a great song came onto my ipod (see video below) and I caught the eye of a guy in a car turning right, and he smiled and waved. He was cute too. And unlike this guy, he was wearing a shirt! Plus we have so much in common: he was wearing aviators, I wear aviators; he drove a Subaru, I drive a Subaru; he had a Lake Louise bumper sticker on his car; I was there just a few weeks ago! I think that means we're dating now. Now if only I knew his name ...

silver foxes > cougars

This past weekend I learned a valuable lesson from my friend PT: Cross country skiing is a lot like a horror movie - always remember to look behind you. Why you ask? Because you never know what is happening when your back is turned. In a horror movies, it's inevitably a serial murderer. When cross country skiing, it's beautiful scenery. Like this:

We were lucky. There very well could have been a cougar behind us, hidden somewhere in that breathtaking view. Being cougar smart is very important, as delineated by the brochure in our hotel room. In case you were wondering what a cougar smart brochure looks like, here it is:

It's a bit hard to read, but it basically says that cougars can attack at any time, even when you think you are safe and sound inside the local pub. They're everywhere. The only way to protect yourself is to protect the jugular and get into a fetal position. It also helps if you don't hang out with unsuspecting men in their twenties.

We did see some other wildlife on our ski though. Some silver foxes, which as you know are a personal weakness of mine. All in all a great day, which was part of a great girls weekend, filled with details that can't be shared here, but rest assured there were a lot of laughs.

shopping fail

So on Sunday I ventured out to do some Christmas shopping. Instead of getting what I needed to (i.e. gifts for other people) I bought myself these ski boots. They are rad. They have this mechanism that allows them to inflate and deflate. Kind of like those old school Reebok pumps. Not sure if the "air shell" technology is just a gimmick or not, but they have to be better than my old Head boots that crush my feet and have resulted in permanent trauma to my nailbeds (thanks to CG for the medical diagnosis).

And then I went to Holts and bought this dress (incidentally it looks just as good on me as it does on the model). Unfortunately they can't be worn together.

So I have evening wear and weekend wear, but still no Christmas presents. Awesome.

I love you, now please go away

So Ali picked Roberto. Boring and Boringer belong together. I hope her hair extensions and his eyebrows are happy for a long long time. I will say that I think it was very classy the way she said goodbye to Chris, saving him from going through the rigamarole of picking a ring, talking into the camera about his hopes and dreams, and getting down on one knee. For that I can almost forgive her super annoying, never ending, giggle. I'm glad he can now go back to his beautiful Cape Cod house, hang out with his dog Jetty (not Jenny ... I looked it up), and drink with his brothers and their wives. And so here is my impassioned plea ...

Dear Chris,*

I really want you to be happy, and I don't think going on a reality show is the way to do it. Please, please, please don't become the next bachelor. You are a great guy and don't deserve the crazies that ABC will inevitably choose to become your potential bride. Everyone loves you right now, so don't ruin that goodwill by signing up for another 15 minutes of fame. No one wants to see you on the cover of US Weekly with some whore proclaiming "your love." Go home. Plant some trees. Play with your dog. Go for a walk on the beach. Throw a frisbee if you must. Find a new hobby. Like skiing for example. Have you ever been to the Canadian Rockies? The snow here is great and it's sunny all the time! I used to teach skiing and I could definitely help you conquer the black diamonds. And then, after we frolic in the snow, you feel like giving me a real diamond, I would not be opposed. If things go sideways (although how that could every happen, I have no idea), I promise not to sell our story to Star Magazine. I will however blog about it (but don't worry, as only 3 people read this blog, no one will really know). So if you're ok with that one condition, we're golden!

That's all I have to say for now. Please keep in mind my advice. I am very wise. And I think your dad would really like me.

All my love,

K

P.S. I promise if we are dating, I won't date anyone else at the same time. Even if he is as cute as Kirk.

* This may or may not be a real letter. The address for his family's landscape company is readily available.