I need to change it up

IMG_6644

2009-06-18T15:56:00.001-07:00

IMG_6644
Originally uploaded by Marlee McConnell

No Longer Here

2009-02-03T15:40:00.001-08:00

I didn't realize that when you came to my blogspot blog it didn't carry over to my new one. Please check it out, I've moved everything over.

www.smellydanielly.com

3.6.5.

2008-12-31T15:03:00.003-08:00

The boss just called and said we can leave early tonight. She also said I don't have to come in on Friday if I don't want to. Thank God! I would have been the only one here and that just would not have been fun.

I usually dread New Years Eve because I always get dragged to some big party I don't want to be at and there ends up being a million people I don't know and then the people I do know disappear. The last few New Years Eve parties have left a sour taste in my mouth.

New Years Eve as a kid was always fun. Darios family and our family always got together. We switched houses each year and we would bring over all these board games. Our moms made food for us and we would eat and drink (non-alcoholic beverages of course!) and play games until it was 11:59. Then we would rush and grab every pot and pan that we could find and go out side and run around banging them to ring in the New Year!

I have very fond memories of those times and often wish I could go back and spend New Years like that again. Staying up until 5 in the morning getting drunk and passing out on someones floor is not my idea of a good time.

Tonight we will somewhat we reenacting my childhood memories. With our plans being left to the last minute and a few ideas falling through a handful of us are heading over to Darios empty compound for some appys, drinks, Guitar Hero and more. I am so excited! It's a 5 minute drive from home. Everyone who will be there are good friends and I'm sure we will have an over abundance of food to eat!

It just makes sense to ring in the New Year with a group of friends I love in a relaxed and cozy environment.

2008 was a pretty sweet year with the majority of it being enveloped by the wedding and everything surrounding it. I am looking forward to 2009 being much quieter. Hopefully Chad and I can go on some weekend get-aways. My Mom and Dad got us a gift certificate for a weekend away of our choice which we are really excited about! I can't wait for trips! 2009 will be the calm before the 2010 storm and 5 million things we have planned.

So the next time you hear from me things will be a little different around here so have a safe and happy new years! I shall see you soon!

Ready? Rant.

2008-12-30T11:03:00.003-08:00

The City of Burnaby / Garbage Men

Alright so our garbage gets picked up at the beginning of the week. I can't remember exactly which day but for argument sake lets say Monday. So the garbage men come in their big truck to pick up all of our garbage on Monday and then all of our recycling on Thursday. Since last week was Christmas the garbage schedule got shifted and we went from having our garbage picked up on Monday to it being picked up on Friday. But wait!

Both Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday we had huge snow storms which piled our streets and ally ways with dumps of snow, which meant that there was NO way any sort of city vehicle would be able to get around our apartment building. This meant that our already 2 week late garbage pick up did not happen. Ok, not the biggest deal in the world, I was still able to dispose of the things I needed to dispose of. But wait!

Christmas usually produces a large amount of garbage with paper and packaging from toys and gifts getting chucked in the garbage. Not to mention the waste from food. Now because we were not home very much during those few days I was not able to really clean up all the garbage and papers until Sunday. When I went to take my two bags of trash to the shoot for disposal what do I see? A large sign informing me that the garbage bin was over flowing with garbage and that all shoots had been locked shut preventing anyone from getting rid of their garbage until the bin was to be emptied. And when might you ask, will this bin be emptied. Oh, well, not until the following FRIDAY!

So this means that our garbage will not have been picked up for 3 weeks, and all the garbage and boxes and papers that I need to throw out and recycle basically gets to accumulate in my hall closet until the garbage men decided to come get the damn trash.

I understand not being able to pick up garbage because of snow build up in ally ways, but now are ally is basically clear. They could come at ANY time! But no, we have to wait until Friday and I get to fume and explode every time I see this large pile of crap growing in my closet because I have to hoard my own garbage.

The frustration this causes me is ridiculous.

Someone give me the number to Tony Soprano's Waste Management Company. I need to take matters into my own hands.

Ugh.

Anyways, I was going to rant about 3 other things and then just realized the cause of frustration in all of them leads to one main factor. SNOW.

I need a shovel and a blow torch.

Christmas is Ova

2008-12-29T13:02:00.002-08:00

Its so hard to blog after Christmas because there are so many things that happened and so many stories to tell. I just never know where to start other then to ignore that it happened and to carry on with my daily business.

This year was quite successful. Even though there was really only a few things we wanted for Christmas we got an amazing compilation of gifts. So many gifts I don't even know what to do with myself.

It snowed tons every day. We got stuck numerous times trying to get out to White Rock for boxing day dinner at Chads Uncle and Aunts house.

Christmas Eve we went out to Midnight Mass as planned. The choir sounded amazing and I was so glad I went through with it. It started snowing during the Mass so Chad and I basically left right after. The weather looked bad and we had to drive to White Rock so there was no point in staying and drinking with everyone at my Uncle house. Not to mention I slipped on some ice and fell on my ass in front of everyone.

So we drove out to WR at 1:30 in the morning. We got to the house around 2:30 and instead of going to bed right away Chad decided to go through all his old Football cards that he found in his room. I didn't fall asleep until way passed 3 because I had Christmas songs stuck in my head. Not to mention my eyes were itching like I mofo and I couldn't figure it out, until I realized that we were most likely sleeping in a bed infested with Tractors fur. I always forget that I am allergic to Cats because I am never around them and they don't always bother me. That night I had a bad case of red puffy itchy eyes. Not good.

Christmas morning was good, though I was so tired from lack of sleep. We had a big breakfast and then opened a million gifts. I helped hand them all out which was fun. I'm efficient.

We hung around for a bit and watched The Song Remains the Same on Blue Ray. It was Chads Dads gift. I got bored with it rather quickly though because I don't do guitar solos and you basically have to be high to watch this movie. It doesn't make any sense. I did, however, realized why so many girls wanted to sleep with Robert Plant. He seduced me through the TV Screen.

We left in the afternoon and headed home where I passed out for a while and Chad showered. We went to my parents house at about 4:30 and opened gifts and had a small dinner with a handful of people. Mom served Lamb which I don't eat so I had potato's. They were good and I had a huge headache so I really didn't want to eat anything else.

Boxing Day I got up super early and walked to Metrotown to go to two stores and walked in and out. That is the ONLY way to do Boxing Day at Metrotown. People are nuts and stand in hour long line ups to get 10 bucks off yoga pants. The rest of the day I was feeling pretty lazy and watched 4 episodes of What Not To Wear. That was fun. In the evening we went to Chads uncles as I mentioned. Everyone cancelled expect us and Chads parents, so it was good that we did make it out there.

Saturday we just hung out. I did some laundry and then we headed downtown in the afternoon. We went to the Vancity Theaters to watch The Godfather on the big screen. I read about it on Miss 604 and so we bought tickets and headed down there. It was an awesome experience so I am so glad Rebecca blogged about it otherwise I would have never known! I loved every minute of it even though I've seen it a thousand times. I can't wait for #2 to come out!

Sunday I did a bit of shopping with the Parentals and then headed home and got ready for the annual Rossi Boxing Day Dinner, which wasn't held on boxing day this year but that doesn't matter. I will post those pictures tomorrow.

I'm not as exhausted as I was last year but maybe that's because I was pretty lazy this year. The fun hasn't ended though. Mikey is arriving tomorrow so we will have a week of adventures with him. I wonder if I could get Mikey and Patz to fight in a jello match. Humm...

Winter Pictures

Christmas Day & Presents Pictures

Snowed In

2008-12-24T11:36:00.000-08:00

So its Christmas Eve and we are basically snowed in. Everything that was suppose to happen today has been canceled, but instead of feeling disappointed I am completely content. It gives me the perfect excuse to sit at home and relax.

Chad has been outside for 2 hours shoveling snow. The odd thing is he actually enjoys it so hes having fun out there. Though I am sure his feet are soaking wet since he is only wearing runners.

Tonight is Midnight mass and is the whole reason why I joined my uncle choir and have been practicing every week. We went to the church last night for one more practice and the parking lot was a disaster. Nothing had been cleared from the last snow storm. My uncle phoned my mom this morning and said all the streets around the church are a disaster. He doesn't know if mass tonight will go through. Kind of puts a hitch in things but I guess all we can do is wait and see.

We are suppose to drive out to White Rock tonight, after mass, so more like 1:00 in the morning. We are spending Christmas morning with Chads moms side of the family. It's one of Chads favorite traditions so come hell or high water we will be there. I'm really looking forward to it so I hope we can make it out there. Chad calls my car 'The Snow Cat' so he thinks we can make it. The only tricky parts with be the side streets of course.

Moms all freaking out because all of her plans are ruined. Not to mention Steven went to Greece for Christmas from Turkey and hasn't called her at all. The last time she heard from him was Sunday when he arrived.

Ah well...Young and the Restless is on and I haven't seen it in so long so I am so lost. I think Eva from ANTM is on here. I need to figure out what the new story line is. There are so many new characters.

Here are some pictures from today...

Welcome to a perfect Sunday

2008-12-21T16:30:00.002-08:00

Its been snowing all day and all night. The roads aren't that crazy but I still don't want to go outside. I've already been out this morning.

We've spent the majority of the day cuddled up on the couch with blankets watching TV and surfing the web.

I plan on reading lots later on. Am so looking forward to that. Going to book mark some good recipes and try them out over the next few weeks.

I love today. I love not moving. I love doing whatever it is I want to do. Its so comfy and cozy. Chads going to light a fire and we are going to eat some pasta and its going to be a perfect night cuddled with a book and my boos.

I'm working Monday and Tuesday and then have the rest of the week off. I'm going to eat it up. Tubbing on Christmas Eve. Breakfast and Dinners on Christmas Day. Shopping at 8am on Boxing Day. Godfather Watching on Saturday and Family dinner eating on Sunday.

IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!

Stop Coughing

2008-12-19T16:07:00.003-08:00

I've been too distracted. I'm spending too much time actually working instead of blogging. And then when I get the chance to blog I spend it fixing up the new one instead of paying attention to the old one. Oh well.

I guess I'll take a little Christmas break and come back fresh and clean for the new year. I don't have many days off over the next two weeks, but I will have enough to hopefully relax and hang out with the fam, so posting will be down to a minimum.

Tonight we are going out on a double date with Alicia and Adam. We want to go to Baci but apparently they are having 5 million Christmas Parties there tonight so it might be too busy. We've got a back up plan though. So excited for dinner with friends!!!

Alicia and I have eaten so much chocolate today. I'm actually getting sick of it. We are the only ones here and have been stuffing our faces off with all the free food in the lunch room. This is why I love Christmas time.

I actually can't believe its Christmas already. I remember thinking about it LAST year, what it would be like, our first Christmas as a married couple and now here it is. Crazy.

I have to clean up my desk a little bit here. There crap everywhere.

Alicia saw our little mouse friend in the lunch room today. She freaked out but not overly girl freak out. Since then I have had to accompany her every time she wants to go to the warehouse. Its kinda cute. Awww poor Alicia!

Trevor Linden night was amazing. It was really cool that we were able to be apart of it. It was even better to see our team pull off a win live! It was Chad and my first hockey game together. I learned that you can not talk to him when they are playing. Even more so when they are on TV. It was quite amusing.

Ok this post is a complete disaster of rambles. I gotta go.

Trevor Linden Night

Oh yea, guess where I am going tonight!?

2008-12-17T14:49:00.000-08:00

That is, if I can get home in this blizzard. Sweet Jesus.

Am so looking forward to baked potatos tonight. Drool.

2008-12-16T16:14:00.004-08:00

Pictures to make me smile since today didn't.

I think I should probably get it cut. I just can't bring myself to do it. I've gotten this far. I should just let it get to 'Homeless Hippie Disaster' length.

We metaphorically tied the knot.

So big and tough infront of them there mountains.

I look like an elf. Or just some ill positioned nut case.

We have to move Phyl into the bedroom since the Christmas Tree took over his spot. Now every time I lay in bed I feel like I'm living in the jungle. He's very invasive.

Quatchi matches our decor quite nicely. I made all the pillows. 'Cept for the brown ones at the back, they came with the set.

Everytime I look at this I think 'Aww Chads so cute'. Then I remember that the note's not about him but about my FACTORY boyfriend. So many boys. So little time. So confusing.

Thank you Costco for making boxes of Tea Bags. They last me forever. This box is also the only thing in the office the mouse DIDN'T eat. Yea. I still haven't told you that story.

A face only a mother could love.

...

This post feels very un inspired. Maybe that is because I am very un inspired today. Today has been a crappy day.

I have a lot of new pictures I wish to post but I think that they only make sense if each set has its on post.

I hope to eff around with this blog tonight. That is if Mr. C with grace me with his assistance. I've been contimplating Wordpress for over a year now and I think the only way to get my blog to look and function the way I want it to I will need to use Wordpress. I just have such an emotional connection with Blogger that I feel guilty leaving. Anyways, hopefully we can test it out tonight.

Honestly, who throws his shoe?

2008-12-15T15:10:00.003-08:00

This Saturday I actually proclaimed that I like Mondays more then Saturdays. This was because, like always, I didn't get nearly as much done on Saturday as I would have liked and everything I did do was in a big mad rush, which left me stressed and frustrated. Story of my life. I always think I can squeeze so much into a Saturday and that is never the case.

Saturday night we had two Christmas Parties. One with my Godparents & another one with Chad friends. We went to my Godparents (Darios Parents) for dinner and festivities and then headed out to Kits for the annual gift exchange where we play that game where everyone gets a number and you either have the choice of opening a gift or stealing a gift.

My gift got stolen like 15 times and every two minutes I had a different gift. It really sucked because some of my gifts were really nice and I want to keep them, Hello Lululemon gift card! I ended up with a bottle of Wolf Blass Red Wine, which just so happens to be my favorite so that was good, & Chad ended up with a book about some guy in the music industry. He was pretty excited about his book.

The most talked about gift however was a giant wooden rooster name Bernard. As you can imagine it produced some pretty interesting remarks. Everyone wanted to steal the 'giant wooden cock'. It was even in my possession at one point, but as you guessed it was stolen away from me. It would have made a pretty kick ass decoration at our entrance.

While at the party, we all seemed to not notice the large amount of snow compiling outside, so by the time we left at 2 in the morning everything had an inch and a half of white stuff on it. This meant going up hill was impossible as we found out and slid back down the hill trying to get to 4th. Luckily most of the main streets were cleared to some extent. We assumed that since Kits was a white wonderland, Metrotown would be much worse since we are quite a bit higher then everyone and always get a lot of snow. This, was actually quite the opposite, and both Chad and I felt quite jibbed that we didn't get as much snow. Damn you Kits!

Sunday we took it easy. Chad played a million hours of computer games and I finished up 3 loads of laundry, wrapped all the Christmas gifts, and wrote all the Christmas cards. I was going to go out to do some shopping but I had no motivation to get out of my pjs. It was nice to just stay home all day/night and be lazy while getting stuff done.

Tonight we are staying home as well, which I am excited about. All these parties and gathering are fun, but they really make you appreciate staying home and relaxing in your pjs with a glass of wine! Not to mention Chad just went out and bought a bunch of fire wood for the fire. I foresee a night spent cuddled on the couch watching Craig Ferguson make fun of George W and the whole shoe throwing incident.

Dry Dry Dry Dry Dry Dry Dry Dry

2008-12-14T21:08:00.005-08:00

The inside of my nose is so dry. I don't know what to do about it. If you have any suggestions please let me know. Its been driving me crazy all day.

I hate that no matter what, when I wear skinny jeans they always end up so loose and bunched at the knee instead of nice and straight. FAILURE SKINNY JEANS, you are a failure.

I look really bad in that photo. I got dressed in the dark, hence the over exposure of plaid. This is what happens when your significant other gets up after you in the morning and doesn't want lights turned on.

I'm up loading a whole wack load of pictures to flickr. So now I am waiting and bored.

The Christmas Cards are going out tomorrow.

I'm a little late.

Completely is used a lot

2008-12-12T08:50:00.003-08:00

It's almost pitch black outside. With the light on in the office, the glare it creates on the windows means I can't see anything outside except my reflection and the reflection of the office. Its snowing, Vancouver snow, hich means its half rain half snow. But the point is, I can't see it.

I just burnt my tounge on my tea. Damn you warm yummy tea. *shakes fist*

I got a txt from Chad while I was on my way home last night informing me that he would be home by 6. This put a little hitch in things because being as it was Thursday night I had to leave by 6:30 to go to choir practice. I figured I would try and get dinner started as soon as I got home so that when Chad arrived it would be ready on the table and I could scarf down my food and leave. Well, coming home at 6 turned into coming home by 6:15 which turned into just eat and go cause I don't know when I will be home. While I was a little frustrated I ate as fast as I could and ran off the choir only to be a few minutes late.

Instead of these choir practices getting easier they keep getting harder. Some people show up one day and then don't show up another day and when I am training my ear to pick up the sounds that the person beside me is singing and then the person beside me keeps changing I just end up sounding like a disaster and get extremely frustrated because I don't know what the hell I am singing.

The way its set up is there are two 'sets' of Altos, the ones that sit on the bench and the ones that sit on the chairs. I am right in between the two of them and last night there was no one directly beside me. The choir is filled with older people who all know each other and have been singing together. I feel complete out of place when I am there. I am young and quite and so damn shy I just sit there by myself not knowing what to do. I feel like a scared 12 year old.

My voice has been completely off that last two practices, its almost as if I can't sing like I use to. I can't hit the notes I've always hit. I have no power behind my voice and my ear is totally off. When I open my mouth and sing it doesn't feel like me. I can't figure out whats wrong. My throat is sore all the time, morning and night and the only thing I can think of that could possibly link all these problems is the lump on my throat. And thinking about it just makes me horribly depressed and worried that something is seriously wrong.

Near the end of the practice we were going over our most difficult piece. I was complete lost and could not hear my part what so ever. The conductor clearly saw my frustration and suggested that I move in between two very strong Altos, which is exactly what I needed. Instead of feeling rejuvenated by this I was horrified by my lack of ability to sing with out someone having to physically move me somewhere else. Everyone was silent and watched me move spots. I could feel my face go completely red. As much as I knew this change would benefit me I was totally embarrassed and I don't know why. The ladies were very nice and asked me my name and the whole time I felt like a little kid who just wanted to run away and hide. I was this close to bursting into tears.

The rest of the practice I felt completely defeated. I felt like it was too hard to go on. I felt completely out of place. I was in a horrible mood for the rest of the night, I just didn't know what to do with myself. I don't know why this whole experience is making me revert back to being a kid.

I am not looking forward to going back next week.

There are two practices left. I hope they go better then this one did.

I wish I was wearing my pj's right now

2008-12-11T08:49:00.002-08:00

This morning is beautiful. Its crisp and cold outside but the sun is out and is bouncing off all the frost. It makes me excited for Christmas. Even though the two aren't related.

We have nothing planned for Friday night and Saturday day so I am going to take every opportunity to sleep and cuddle and watch Christmas movies and just eat it all up. Its been a long time since I've had nothing to do on a Saturday, but with all the home reno's basically done, and all the Thank You cards out I am FINALLY left with Saturdays filled with what I want to do. I'm really excited about it.

I've been thinking a lot about what the future holds these day. We pretty much have the next two years of our lives planned out. Not written in stone but there are definitely somethings that have already started to be planned. Savings account set up for certain events. Information collecting for other events. And doors open for one very special project, something I've never mentioned to anyone before.

Since 2005 this blog has followed me through all of my life's events. Relationships, School, my first 'Real' job, family events, parties, weddings and much more. When I started this blog I knew it would be the about the one real thing I could talk about; myself. As self centred as that is I always found it interesting to keep track of all the things that happened to me. My blog really is like my diary. I am writing a documentary about myself.

The blogs that I love to read the most are the blogs like mine; stories about peoples lives. I've always been fascinated with biographies. I love learning about peoples lives and the things that happen to them, even if all they have to say on Monday morning is that they had Toast for breakfast and there dog kept them up all night. I find it all so fascinating. I love peoples history, and the paths they've taken in their lives. I love reading about their feelings and what makes them tick. It is one of my favorite things to read about. Wikipedia has become my new best friend.

So because of this, my blog will always be about my life. It will always be about what I am dealing with at that moment. It will follow me through vacations, and job changes. It will follow me through having kids and moving houses. When we go to Italy for a month, I hope to write every day about where we visited and what we saw. When we change houses, I hope to write about my feelings leaving the first place we ever shared together. When we have kids, I hope to write about my experience and excitement.

My goal is that in 20 years I can come back here and read my old stories. I can reminisce about old adventures. I can remember what it was like when I first met Chad. I can laugh at pictures of parties about Balls. I can smile at all the friends this blog has helped me gain.

I hope that as random as this blog can be it is still enjoyable to read. Even if there is no one out there to follow me and my stories anymore I hope to still write them. Because what has started out as something for you, has become something for me.

Wall Nut Chest Nut

2008-12-10T10:32:00.003-08:00

Life is in full swing. I still haven't really had a chance to recoup from the party on Saturday. Every night this week is jam packed with things going on and it leaves me coming home late and crawling into bed at 9 so I can get extra sleep. Screw all the messes on the floor. Ha.

We got up early on Saturday to start all the decorating, which in reality didn't take us that long at all. We have an over abundance of Christmas Tree ornaments because last year I went wild and bought 3 boxes worth at Ikea. The idea was to fill bowls with ornaments, which I did, but I still have a bunch left over. I like our tree to be filled with ornaments that mean something rather then a whole bunch of coloured balls. Ideally I would have a mix of both - meaningless coloured ornaments and fun things that we've made or got as gifts over the years. Currently we have too many balls. Sorry of my life.

We always thought we had too many Christmas decorations over all, but when we put everything up on Saturday it actually turned out to be the opposite. We have a gift card to Pier 1 and I think we are going to go buy some Christmas house decorations. Chads mom got some cute stuff there so I wanna check out what they have.

Over all the party was good. Everyone brought something so we had plenty of drinks and food and sweet things. Everyone made love to their balls exceptionally well, as you will see in the pictures. It was a fun night that left us somewhat exhausted by the end of it.

Sunday we spent the day at Chad grandmas house celebrating her birthday. After what felt like very little sleep and relaxation we headed out to South Surrey where all the girls did crafts and the boys all entertained themselves until dinner time. Chad went out and bought the rest of the gifts for the family so now we are totally done shopping for Christmas! Chads mom and I made beaded stars and my mom, who joined in on the fun, made some other ornaments with the kids.

I only made two things because I was feeling down right icky and the lack of sleep from the night before was hitting me hard. I basically almost passed out on the couch with a glass of wine in my hand. A class act if you ask me.

Dinner was good though and we showed everyone our wedding pictures on DVD. By the time we left it was 9 and both Chad and I were ready to fall asleep. I had the worst headache and my throat was not co-operating what so ever. When we got home I didn't even bother attempting to clean up the disaster from the night before and instead watched a Dateline NBC special on Charles Manson. Much more entertaining then cleaning up.

Monday night we went to the Reef for Claudia & Alicias belated birthday. I don't know how I feel about the Reed anymore. I mean every time I think about going there I drool with excitement, and then I get there and I stuff my face with plantain chips and then I think to myself 'I need to take a break from the plantain chips'. I dunno is that weird? Does that even make any sense?

Speaking of drooling I'm pretty sure I soaked my pillow case last night. But I can't remember if it was a dream or not. Humm...

TONIGHT IS COSTCO NIGHT!

Make Love To My Balls 08

Patz Post with the official pictures

I've worn these jeans 3 days in a row

2008-12-08T17:25:00.001-08:00

I'm not going to blog about the party. I don't have time today and I didn't upload my pictures yet. Patz got them on facebook and hopefully he will post them on flickr so I can show you all how to make love to a Christmas Ornament.

The weekend was busy and I've been feeling under the weather for a while now so I was pretty much exhausted last night. Chad as well since he hasn't caught up on sleep yet from Ottawa.

The place is a disaster because we had to move a bunch of stuff for the party and then we were out all day yesterday and nothing has been put back. There is also a huge stack of serving dishes that need to be washed at some point tonight. That and floor is disgusting. Such a pigsty.

We are going to the Reef tonight for Claudia & Alicia's birthday. I have to help Alicia finish these signs and then we are off to enjoy a plate of Plantain Chips & Johnny Cakes!

Bet your jealous!!!

I'm at a party

2008-12-06T22:52:00.002-08:00

There is lots of food. But its suppose to be that way. I'm Italian. I must over feed. Its in my blood. I actually didn't make everything I planned on making. There is a 1kg block of brie cheese still in the fridge. I think we started this too late so people aren't as hungry. Mental note for next year. Marlee brought lots of food too so that's good. I was worried cause the ppl who said they would bring food had to cancel so i thought we would run out be we didnt. holla.

Alicia. I miss you. Melissa. I miss you. WISH YOU GUYS WERE HERE.

Plus every one else who couldn't make it. ITS NOT LIKE I LOVE YOU LESS BECAUSE I AM NOT GIVING YOU A SPECIFIC SHOUT OUT. I just promised those two I would.

Its really loud in here. I lost my drink. I've got too much to do to worry about it.

Everything went as planned. We decorated everything with lots of time to spare. We have lots of tree decorations but not enough house decorations. That will change tomorrow tho. Score.

I really need some chapstick.

There is christmas music on in the background and rap on the computer. Its confusing.

I forgot what I was going to say. Demis interuppted me.

My hair is amazing tonight. I love straightening irons.

Ok I gotta go.

Bi love.

Is it 8pm yet?

2008-12-05T09:00:00.002-08:00

He comes home tonight!

I'm not picking him up at the airport. I figured there is no point wasting gas and fighting rush hour traffic when the government can pay for his Taxi ride home. I know that this is like blasphemy because I ALWAYS pick him up from the airport but I have so much to do tonight for the party tomorrow that it just doesn't make any sense. Had I stayed home today and gotten stuff done then I would have gladly driven out there tonight. Alas, this is not the case. I did find out however, that he has purchased an early Christmas gift for me which, I am led to believe, costs more then all the Christmas gifts hes bought me to date! Ohhh what could it be??? I'm so damn excited. I LOVE PRESENTS!

Tonight I need to go home and do the following...

Buy the rest of the ingredients for the amazing appys I'm making for tomorrow.
Start preping all the appys I'm making for tomorrow.
Finish painting the other sides of the doors.
Start taking all the Christmas decorations out of the boxes.
Possibly clean the bathroom?

Tomorrow we have to put up the tree and decorate that. Move all the furniture to fit the tree and have enough space for people to sit and mingle at the infamous 'Make Love to my Balls' Party. Clean up the disaster that will be a result of all the decorating. Do some major floor cleaning. Finish up all the appys, and try not to look stressed and tired and disaster-like for the party! Yay! These tasks are very daunting to me right now and I wish I was at home starting them all.

I felt super gross when I woke up yesterday morning. I had a very sore throat and just a feeling of over all grossness. I contemplated staying home but then I remembered that we were all going out for lunch because a co-worker is going on maternity leave so I figured I should show up for that. I made a plan that I would go to work and try and finish a bunch of stuff in case I was worse today and then I wouldn't feel so bad about staying home because I would know all my work is done. So I worked my butt off yesterday and got a bunch of stuff out and then I woke up this morning not feeling as gross. So here I am with all my work done for the day and its 9am.

No ones here today and those who are are leaving at lunch time. This will be the most painfully drawn out day yet. I should be at home doing stuff.

Oh yea. I promise to live blog tomorrow during the party like I did last year. Not that anyone really cares anymore. BUT I CARE.

Technicians aren't supposed to say anything

2008-12-03T16:09:00.006-08:00

Matt came over for dinner last night. We'll technically we both met at my moms house and she made us dinner. It was good times with my Dad bashed Britney Spears and my Mom telling stories about her works Secret Santa. It was quite enjoyable.

After dinner we accompanied the parentals to Shoppers Drug Mart because for some reason we always like joining them on adventures. I bought some make up and sang to Matt as he looked at me annoyingly. My mom had to mail the 4 billion Thank You cards from the wedding. A bunch had to go over seas and so she had to weigh them or something. Anyways, it caused a giant line up behind her.

We didn't do anything else after that. Matt hopped on the skytrain and I went home to wrap Christmas presents. I watched Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood and cried again. That show always makes me cry I don't know why. I love them despite the way they dumped their Ex's to be together.

Tonight I have a bunch of things to do. I figured I would invite Pat along for the ride since hes at home doing nothing and I have a feeling if I go home I will end up watching hours of TV and won't be motivated to do anything. I'm always that way in the evenings, especially if its dark out, which it already is at 4:30.

Chad told Pat to keep his Jew Mitts off of me. Aww. Jew Mitts! I wonder what they would look like? They sound cute. Probably made out of a fuzzy blue fabric with a Star of David on them. Aww fuzzy mitts!

I talked to Chad a bit this afternoon before he headed off to the Pub for dinner. I wish I was with him because it would be a vacation for me unlike it being work for him. Plus, I love snow.

I think I am going to make us pasta for dinner, but with a cream cheese sauce and maybe some mushrooms and zucchini. Sounds tasty and now I am drooling. I'm sure Pat will take pictures of everything. People should hang out at the apt. more around dinner. I always make good food. Promise.

Tonight I need to go to Costco to buy stuff for Saturday. I need to re-paint the doors again and hopefully stain some wood. Clean the bathroom and maybe sweep the floors. Bring all the Christmas stuff up and start to figure out the lay out of everything. And then maybe I will have a shower and cuddle up in blankets to watch TV. Alone that is, not with Pat silly.

The heater smells like its burning something. I think that's my key to go home.

Pictures are from Sunday night waiting to pick up Claudia to go to the work Christmas Party. Just so you know.

Whip-crack went his Whoopy tail

2008-12-02T12:11:00.003-08:00

I said Good-Bye to my dear Husband this morning as he caught a cab to the airport off on another work adventure. I hope hes got the proper attired for brisk cold Ottawa. If not its not my fault. He doesn't own anything to combat frigid temperatures.

Hes left me many times before and for much longer periods of time. The only thing that will be weird about this is not having him there when I go to sleep and wake up in the morning. Alas, I am sure I will survive. Especially if he promises to come back with handfuls of gifts for yours truly.

I have been up since 6 and ended up coming to work half an hour early because I felt like it.

Right, so I went to el Doctors yesterday for my yearly check up dealio. I seem to be quite the healthy young whipper snapper, aside from my lumpy throat and ridiculous right breast. I had blood work done to check my thyroid and subsequent organs and all the results came back fine, as I predicted, so everyone can calm down. I'm not dying of some crazy thyroid disease. I go for an ultrasound this afternoon for the lump. The Dr. says that the results of said ultrasound should give him an indication of how to proceed with it.

Before I left his office yesterday he asked if there was anything else I wanted him to check out. I mentioned the cysts that I have on my right boob that I had checked by his assistant last year. At the time I was told that there was nothing I could do about them. They would grow and they would shrink and because they weren't cancerous they won't remove them. The one that's on the side doesn't hurt and I rarely ever notice it but the one on the top is the most annoying thing in the world. Because it rests against my chest wall /ribs you can see it protrude. It is the ugliest thing in the world and it hurts all the time. So I expressed my extreme frustration with it and asked if there was anything he could do about it.

(PatZ stop reading here or you will faint)

He took a look and saw how awkwardly positioned it was and the pain it caused me so he suggest draining it. I was all for this. So he grabs this honking needle, hold the area where the cyst is and with out any local anesthetic or anything plunges the son of a slut right in. Now I have a very high tolerance for pain, but sweet Jesus that friggin hurt. Anyways, hes swinging at me butcher style but the cyst isn't draining. So he pulls it out positions himself differently, and goes in for more, this time digging it in for one last ditch effort after hes already stabbed it in. How I survived is unknown.

So I'm laying there, cringing in pain and the bloody cyst will not drain. He asked if I wanted him to try one more time to which I replied, No Thank You. So after several attempts to drain the bane of my existence I lay there with holes in my boob which are now pouring out blood and nothing has been solved. Awesome.

His exact words were - "Well this guy is very Tenacious . Haha Tenacious D"

I was very light hearted about it all. I mean its not really his fault that my cyst is the spawn of Satan and doesn't want to die. Plus, I technically ASKED to be stabbed repeatedly.

Hes referring me to a Specialist of some sort who will be able to take a look at the lump on my throat and the cyst on my boob which, he said, will then be removed by another stabbing attempt or possibly cutting the damn thing out. I will pretty much do whatever I have to, to get rid of this thing, that's how much it bothers me. Bring on the pain bitches! The only thing I do hope is that the lump on my throat doesn't have to be removed so I don't have a giant scar across my neck.

Now you are up to date on my physical health.

You are welcome.

I'm not lovin you, the way I wanted to

2008-12-01T11:00:00.002-08:00

Hello Monday Morning.

It's "nice" to see you again. I think the only saving grace in today is getting to leave at 2:30 for a doctors appointment.

This whole "not feeling well" has lingered onto this week as well. Again, its like I'm sick but not sick enough to warrant staying home and getting better, its more of a long drawn out half assed sickness. So weird.

This weekend I was pretty much lazy. Saturday I just did not feel well at all and only did half of what I wanted to do because I could not bring myself to get off the couch. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest and I kept coughing. It was making me exhausted.

I did 3 loads of laundry and then forgot about the last load of sheets and towels. I'm such a knob. I will need to finish that tonight midst packing for Chad and cleaning and making dinner and finishing the last of the Thank You cards. Sweet Jesus.

I got my eyebrows done yesterday and while they have always been a bit weird yesterday turn out a little wonky. My right eyebrow is perfect but now my left one is shorter then the right one as in it ends before my right one does and it is driving me crazy! Usually there are a few hairs at the end which look a bit odd but extend my eyebrow to the appropriate length but she ripped them out so now I've got a stubby brow. Its making me mental.

Yesterday afternoon Alicia and I went to the last Portobello West of the season. They had some very cute stuff for sale and I spent the majority of my time oddeling over all the little felt creations and funny magnets. I swear to you I am 12 years old at heart. I was this close to spending all my money on the cutest arglye felt monster but then remembered that I have enough stuffed animals and if I buy any more people will begin to wonder about me when they come over and find shelves and shelves of plush toys. Ha.

We had our Christmas Party last night. It's held at my bosses house and everyone from the design department, warehouse, drafting department and stores comes over for a big party. They've got a huge house so it works well. They make all the food themselves and it is to die for. Alicia, Claudia, and I got there fairly early and we stuffed ourselves silly. I've never eaten so much food in my entire life. It was so good. I wish I could go back in time and eat more.

We left basically after dessert as Alicia wasn't feeling well and I was driving her home. I got home at about 10:30 and went right to bed but all the food that I had just consumed was making me delirious and I could not sleep. It was the weirdest thing. Not to mention I had that damn Kanye West song stuck in my head. (Chad downloaded his newest CD and now we are obsessed with it.) It did not make for a restful sleep at all. Damn you Love Lockdown.

Alicias got pictures from yesterday if you want to check'em out. They are at the bottom of the post. I didn't take any. Woops.

3 more hours of work people!

There was never a mob story written about The Altos.

2008-11-28T08:59:00.002-08:00

I'm wearing my long plaid winter jacket. I haven't worn it yet this season because I left it at the parentals and didn't get it back until last night. Its so much more cozier then the one I bought from work.

Chad went and got his hair cut the other day, but the lady who cut it left the front too long and it looked kind of goofy. Once I pointed that out he got all self conscious about it and bagged me to fix it. I used scissors not a razor though the experience DID make me think of Alicia and her little miss happ. Haha awww.

Ok story time...

After being lovingly harassed by certain members of my family to join the choir at my uncle church I finally gave in and went to their practice last night. I actually really wanted to join their choir from the beginning but the new season started up right after we got married and I knew I couldn't dedicate every Thursday night to Choir practice when I was still trying to organize myself and get a handle on all this 'house wife' stuff.

They have an absolutely beautiful choir and ended up making an announcement last week that they would be practicing song for Christmas mass so anyone who wanted to join in preparation for Christmas could do so. Its only 4 Thursday so I figured I could dedicate myself to that at the least.

Now in not knowing anything about this choir I headed down their last night waiting to see what it was all about. They asked me what range I sang in and I said Alto.

I was in an Italian choir for many many years and always sung Soprano because that's where all the girls - my friends - sang. The Altos were just a bunch of old Italian ladies. I was never really good at singing Soprano. I mean I trained myself for many years to do so but what I was really good at was singing at a lower octave. Finally when there was a conductor change in our choir I took the opportunity to move from a Soprano to an Alto. This meant re-learning all the songs I had sung for a million years. The Sopranos sing the melody and the Altos sing the harmony so it is very easy to get lost in what you are singing and end up joining in the melody which you are not suppose to do. This also meant that I could not longer sit with my friends but now had to sit with all the old Italian ladies.

I found it easiest if I situated myself beside a really strong Alto who knew the part like no tomorrow, then I could ignore what the Sopranos were singing and follow her. It slowly got easier over time, but it took a lot of time.

Last night as a warm up we sang a Christmas song everyone knew. So there I was sitting with the altos about to sing the melody when they all bust out in harmony. It was at that point I knew I was in over my head. Here I was thinking that there would be a bunch of old faces and new faces and we would be starting fresh when instead it was basically all regulars, like 3 new people and everyone already knew the songs, knew the parts, knew everything!

I started to panic. How am I suppose to learn the words and harmony to like 10 songs in four weeks not to mention the 2 songs in Latin with 3 more 1 hour choir pratices left??? This is going to be a challenge. I know it doesn't sound like much, and if I were singing Soprano then I really wouldn't worry about it but this is totally different. Not to mention I don't even get to sit with my Aunt because she is a Soprano and not an Alto. Ha.

What have I gotten myself into?

I love you cause your deuces are wild. And I am not referring to bowl movements.

2008-11-27T14:05:00.004-08:00

I put some yogurt in a container this morning and added some granola to it. Then I forgot about it. Now the granola is soggy. I'm eating it anyways. I don't know if that's a good thing or not.

I feel defeated by work today therefore I am being lazy. They say they aren't being petty but I can see right through it. I mean really, your going to be like this after I maned up and volunteered to pick up a giant pile of dog crap outside your front door because no one else would? Well, if you are going to be this way I guess I can too. I can't wait to see the reactions on their face when I say 'Oh yea, by the way, I'm going to Italy for a month...see you!'. Although I probably won't have to have that conversation with them for another 6 months.

Changes are going on in the office, though I have been told my job is secure. I'm not too worried about it. They will always need someone to order their zippers. The vibe in here is weird though. People don't know how to communicate. I emailed someone to confirm something and instead of them discussing it with me back they discussed it with Claudia and told her to tell me. Yes, because that makes a lot of sense. Now two other people have come up to me to talk to me about this thing instead of the original person. I just have to shake my head at the whole thing.

I've been spending the day reading old posts. That can be a scary thing so I only read posts during the years when Chad existed. I know those posts are safe. Sometimes when I read them I make myself laugh and then Chad makes fun of me for laughing at myself. I'm clearly my number 1 fan. My mom tells me, however, that I have a lot of spelling mistakes in my posts. I apologize profusely.

If I were to read this post out to you right now it would be done in a very depressing and monotone voice.

My favorite colour is Grey.

I gave Chad The Gum Thief to read. Its one of my favorite books. He says when he read it he laughed because the book is exactly like me. He understands why I like it. Its weird and depressing. Ha.

I love you Bethany. I love you Roger.

I've got leftovers agian.

2008-11-26T09:00:00.004-08:00

I've felt off all this week. It must be a combination of not getting enough sleep on the weekend and feeling sick-ish. I'm not sick enough to warrent staying home from work but I am sick enough that my head gets all fuzzy and I can't concentrate. Yesterday was almost a complete write off. I could barely function in the morning and got very little done. Today, however, I do feel better but still off. I dunno whats up with that. Maybe one of my 20 Doctors appointments next week can figure it out.

The evenings this week have turned out to be insane. Every night this week we have to quickly eat dinner and then rush off somewhere else. Chad is trying to get my Nonnas computer fixed but its beginning to be a huge thorn in my side. He perferrs that I accompany him when he goes there to fix it as sometimes my Nonna has trouble with her English and I help translate. I totally understand why he likes me there it just means that all my plans this week have been postponed because I have to go to my Nonnas every night to try and fix the computer. I'm just getting a bit frustrated with all of it.

Whenever I fax off a PO to one of our Vendors I always sign the bottom D Ciavarro. I never write my full name cause its way to damn long. Anyways, everyone who I deal with knows my name is Danielle. A bunch of them got confused when I started signing Ciavarro instead of Rossi and wouldn't send me my packages until I explained that I was the same person I just changed my last name. Yesterday I recieved a package to the attention of Davarro. Yes, because thats exactly what my name is. I'm assuming someone who doesn't know me sent me the package and attempted to make out my signature.

I made Pesto sauce from scratch last night. The best damn pesto sauce ever. But maybe thats because there was 300 lbs of garlic and cheese in it. You put garlic and cheese on anything and I will eat it. Chad even complimented me on how much better it turned out then the last time I made it. Go Me!

B tagged me so here are the 6 things that make me happy...

Waking up to the sun.
A glass of red wine and a plate of pasta.
Stuffed Animals
Puppies
Snuggling with Mr. C.

I tag...

I now get to sit here next to the print that is printing out 500 gift certificates and choke on used toner fumes. God help us all.

Quan Tastic

2008-11-24T09:20:00.002-08:00

My weekend was long and busy and I feel like dictating everything that happened to me for your enjoyment. I'm predicting a rather long post so I am going to warn you. But at the same time if you loved me you would read it anyways because you find my life so unbelievably entertaining...

My Nonna somehow got this huge debilitating virus on her computer that was screwing everything, so Chad being the computer genius and her newest Grandson decided to try and take a look at it. His first attempt was on Thursday which failed. His next attempt was Friday night which was a bust and waste of 3 hours. We didn't get home until 10. LAMO. So now hes got to go back tomorrow night and try again.

We got up early on Saturday morning and I drove Mr. Ciavarro to the airport so he could fly off to Calgary. On my way home I debate going to get my blood tested because I was worried it would be super busy and I would end up wasting the day waiting there. In the end I didn't really want to miss work so I headed over there. I was warned that it was super busy but when I got there the majority of the seats were taken up by peoples spouses so in reality it was half full and took me a total of 30 minutes to get in and out. I was so happy.

I hadn't eaten yet so I headed over to the Metrotown food court and picked up some Starbucks. Winter/Christmas is my favorite Starbucks season and I'm not sure why. I will ignore it for 9 months of the year and then Winter comes and all I can think of is Peppermint everything. I ended up getting a Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha which was amazing and their ever so delicious Chocolate Croissant.

The mall had just opened so there was barely anyone there. They were playing Christmas music and it was the nicest feeling in the world. Walking around with yumminess in hand in a not so busy mall with Christmas all around me. It was quite poetic.

I headed over to Home Outfitters and bought a few things for the house and my Dads Christmas gift. It was super heavy so I went and dropped it off in the car. Then I headed back in, in search of Mr. Ciavarros Christmas gift, and ended up finding everything I was looking for. It was one of those days where you are in the perfect shopping mood and everything works out for you. It was glorious. I picked up everything I wanted to get it and I even found something super cute by fluke. I can't wait for him to see it!

I went into Winners/Home Sense and ended up finding the cutest Christmas Cards and Wrapping paper all on sale. I was so excited! It was making me totally fall in love with Christmas.

After that I headed home and was on a shopping / coffee high. I was so hyper I decided to wrap all of Chads gifts and figure out how much I spent on him. Then I ordered some stuff online and was going mental with excitement. It was super early in the day too which got me even more excited because I knew I could get a million things done.

I quickly had a shower and then went on a cleaning spree. I think I've mentioned it before that when I go on a cleaning spree and no ones home I always turn the TV on so I have some sort of companionship. The only problem is Mrs. Procrastinator over here takes a million breaks while cleaning to watch whats on the TV and then I never get anything done. I wanted to avoid that this time so I grabbed a bunch of my favorite CDs and put them on. I was giddy and hyper and cleaning and singing. You should have seen it.

So I cleaned every nook and cranny of the entire place. It looked beautiful. I even cleaned out the Vacuum which was full of my 12 feet of hair. That was a little bit of a disaster.

I had two hours before I had to leave for Alicias Birthday party so I decided that I would re paint all the doors. HA. I know. So I went down to the storage locker and found the paint. 2 cans of wall paint, one Venetian Plaster, and one white. I grabbed the white with out looking at it, mixed it all up and proceeded to paint. I was finished in record time and then got ready for the party. Got dress, Marlee came over and we left. Everything I wanted to get done was acomplished.

Headed over to Adams for some pizza and drinks. It was so cute to see them together I wanted to cry. I know I'm a girl but you have to see them interact to understand. It is the cutest thing ever and you just know they are meant to be together.

Alicia ordered this pizza with potatoes on it which looked weird but tasted amazing! I can't wait to have it again.

After spending a few hours there chatting and drinking we headed out to catch the skytrain and head downtown. I ended up running into people I knew and was in the chattiest mood ever. It was very unlike me.

The club was a little dead up it didn't matter because we had so much fun with all of Alicia's friends, chatting and drinking and hanging out. There must have been about 50 of us all together.

When we first got there these two guys came up to us and started talking. One was super short and bald and the other one was tall with a long pony tail. They decided that their way to 'pick us up' would be to analyse us and then tell us what they think. It was friggin hilar. The bald guy did all the talking and this is what he said about me. I dress very simply but fashionable and the only thing that wasn't simple about me was the huge diamond I had on my hand (which he referred to a million times). He said that I looked very sure of myself but when I stand I tend to stretch out parts of my body which he think I do in order to get attention. I have no idea what he was talking about. Then, just before we got interrupted he said that I was beautiful but wear too much make up which either means I am trying to be fashionable or I am hiding my insecurities. This I laughed at because the only make up I wear is eye make up and while it was dark that night I was going out to a club which usually goes hand in hand with darker eye make up. I was so friggin amused by this guy that I actually wished I could have talked to him longer just to see what crazy stuff he would come up with next.

Over all the night was a lot of fun. It was weird not having Chad there and everyone kept asking me where he was. I've met a hand full of Alicia's friends before but none of them have ever met Chad, and since we are Alicia's only married friends we are like a novelty. Alicia was 'slightly' intoxicated but she looked like she was having a blast. It was such a fun time I actually didn't want to go home.

By the time I did it was after 2 and I headed straight to bed. I kept having dreams that I was still at the party so I could sleep at all. The I woke up at 6.30 with horrible stomach pains. Not like I wanted to puke because I was so wasted but almost like gas pains. Weird and gross I know. Anyways I think I got a total of 5 hours sleep before having to get up at 9 to start my day.

I was feeling a little under the weather on Saturday so that added with the few drinks I had that night meant I felt horrible on Sunday. All I wanted to do was sleep and take a nap but I had to run around the whole day and I hadn't eaten anything proper and I was disaster. I went to go give blood with Marlee but I am now banned from doing so for a year because I went to Playa del Carmen and apparently that means I am at risk for contracting and spreading Malaria. Great!

I picked up Chad from the airport last night and we went home to watch Tropic Thunder which I actually really enjoyed. I mean Robert Downey Jr. playing and Australian who was playing Black Dude, I could not stop laughing. By the time the movie was over it was 10pm and I was done for. The second my head hit the pillow I was out like light.

Such a busy fun weekend. If only Mr. Ciavarro was there to enjoy it with me.

I can't believe how long this post is, especially since I left out like 5 stories. Oh well.

Alicias 22nd Birthday.