Tune Queen

Gym Rants

2008-07-04T21:54:00.003-04:00

Everyone knows the rule at the gym where who ever is there first watches what they want on tv, right?

I don't have a problem with that. My question is: how can someone work out to the news channel? I mean, they repeat the same news over and over and over again and it's really dreary.

Not to mention, it can get you all riled up. I was there the other day and someone was watching the news (longest hour of my life!) and there was a raging debate on abortion. I mean, what is this, the 80s? I got myself all riled up watching this debate and it didn't make working out any fun at all. I was bored and cranky.

So, my advice to you out there is if you're watching something on tv, it might be nice if you talk to the other person if something really stupid is on tv. Or you could just ignore my rant :)

My Birthday

2008-07-02T21:18:00.002-04:00

I forgot to tell you all about my birthday! I had a really nice time.

My twin and I got together, along with her two kids (my niece and nephew) and Luc. We had a really nice time. Went for lunch the bunch of us, exchanged presents under a perfect sky, sitting in a lovely park setting. I got a gift certificate from her from Sephora and I got a gift certificate and some lovely creams and lipgloss from MonkeyPants. I will put both of my gift certificates to good use. I can't wait!!

Then Luc took me out for Vietnamese food and I had the best bowl of Pho ever! I couldn't even finish it all and I loves my food! So delicious. Then, on the way home, we stopped a sweet little bakery and we each got a slice of cake. Mine was cream cheese and whipped cream, layered in between white cake, and Luc got strawberry mousse layered in white cake. Soooo good! And Luc got me Season 3 of MacGyver. So now I have the first three seasons. YAY!! With all the gifts, cards, phone calls, and wishes I got, I'm set until next year!

New Website

2008-07-02T21:16:00.003-04:00

I discovered this new website today. Looks fascinating! I'll have to check it out when I have more time. A great place to go when you need a vacation that you can't afford :)

WikiTravel.com

Canada Day

2008-07-02T13:08:00.006-04:00

We spent a glorious day yesterday appreciating Canada. We went to a party at a friend of Luc's, which was nice. The food was great and the atmosphere was relaxed. Best strawberry rhubarb pie I've ever had.

Then, we headed downtown to watch some really amazing fireworks. I met up with a friend of mine, his wife, their kids, and his mother-in-law, and we all watched the together. The littlest one (almost 2 years old) was scared silly but he did all right. He didn't cry, he just had his fingers in his ears the whole time and didn't want to look. The fireworks were great though.

After that, we wandered around, looking at drunks, listening to street party music...it was a lot of fun. The weather was great and we had a nice time. Saw some people get arrested (we saw four in all - on the news today they said they arrested 32 people! We saw an eighth of them, I guess.

The crowd grows all day until the streets are congested and there's red and white everywhere. What a party!

The crowds were awesome! There were people everywhere!

All went well and we have no UCDIs (unidentified Canada Day injuries!)

MacGyver

2008-06-11T23:46:00.002-04:00

Does anyone else love this show? I grew up with it and I thought he was just the most clever man (I guess the show had very clever writing - but I didn't see it like that when I was a kid!)

Anyways, in honour of my impending birthday, I decided to spoil myself and I bought the 1st season collection - 20 bucks at the local HMV. I was quite pleased with myself and my purchase.

I've already watched 2 and a half of the 6 DVDs it came on (8 of the 22 episodes in total I think) and I'm enjoying it immensely. It's just as good as I remember it.

Now I've got the theme song in my head again. Thanks a lot!!

TuneQueen

Feeding Ducks

2008-06-11T23:39:00.003-04:00

Luc and I went for a walk yesterday and we ended up coming home via the lake. The lake is a really nice place; in the summer, people sprawl out in the parks surrounding it. There are lots of benches and large shady trees. It's delightful.

There are also lots of ducks (and opportunistic seagulls to boot!) The ducks are so sweet this time of year - they are all paired off and many of them have puffy little yellow offspring with them. We ran into a lady duck and her little brood of two. Luckily, we had just bought a wackload of bagels (very inexpensive day-olds where they make them) so I spared a pumpernickel to feed these very adorable creatures. They didn't eat the whole thing, but they ate pretty good. They were so cute, and so close that I could have touched them. And they weren't shy at all. They just love their bagels :)

After we fed more ducks along the lake, we stopped at a bench near the water and just watched the lake. It was really pleasant and relaxing. It was SUCH a hot day - humid and probably around 28 C so we rested for a bit.

Then we went home.

Ahhhh...

2008-06-02T23:13:00.003-04:00

Whew! We finally finished work on our new site, hlpwntd.com and it looks great!

Basically, hlpwntd.com is a community - people who spot and post help wanted signs around the world to help others (and themselves if they need it) to find jobs.

So I am asking you, my readers :) Please submit any signs you see! Choose your location or the closest to it, and add signs you've spotted on your way to work or out with the dog. We appreciate it and so do those looking for work.

Thanks!

Updates

2008-05-30T11:55:00.002-04:00

So there are a couple of new and exciting things in my life.

A sister of MonkeyPants (a friend of mine since high school) recently got married. That's nice, but the interesting thing is that she met her husband on eHarmony. So, if any of you out there are thinking you've been single for too long, it worked for her. They are a lovely couple and I'm very happy for them. It's weird because I knew MonkeyPant's sister when she was like 14. Now she's married. Time flies.

My little nephew will be celebrating the big 4 soon. That pretty well sums it up. He's quite a cutie. Of course he would be, he's related to me :)

My parents are celebrating their 38th wedding anniversary this year. Yep, 38 years. That's pretty good. I think they've been happy for most of it - I'm sure they have because they are still together. Of course, kids never truly know the details of their parents' relationship, but I think it's been good. They love each other very much and they depend on each other a lot. They are a little co-dependent I think, but that's for them to deal with :) As long as they are happy, that's all I care about.

My twin and I will be celebrating a birthday soon too, in a little less than a month. Luc said he will be taking me to my favourite Vietnamese restaurant. I'm very excited! I usually try to spend the day with my womb-buddy (my sister) so perhaps we'll do something too.

There - now you're all caught up. Isn't life good?

Falls

2008-05-28T23:23:00.006-04:00

Here are some pictures Luc took on Saturday when we went biking at the falls. It was a gorgeous day!

My bike and my foot in the corner :)

Luc's bike

Pictures

2008-05-28T23:17:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone,

As promised, here are some pictures of the baptism cake I made for little Gabrielle, my newest niece.

Here's another shot:

It tasted GOOD!! I figure there was about 3 lbs of icing sugar used on the cake - it was two rectangular cakes side by side with fondant icing. The crowd was pleased :)

Queen of the Office

2008-05-23T23:53:00.003-04:00

Those of you who don't know, Luc and I work together and we both have weightloss goals.

Well, we've decided to merge the two together. Whoever reaches their weightloss goal first is the King or Queen of the Office. Forever.

I'm a very competitive person so for me, this is the ultimate contest. It's almost better than the prize they give out on The Biggest Loser. I figure, if I can rule the office forever, there isn't really anything I can't do :)

So, I have to lose 80lbs. I've already lost 45lbs (before this contest started) so another 80 lbs should be a piece of cake. Mmmm, cake. Focus!! Okay, yes, the 80 lbs.

Well, I've already lost 1 this week, I figure. I walked for 3.5 hours yesterday, then went to the gym that night. That's about 1600 calories. It hurt when I got up this morning :) The day before, I went to the gym, about 900 calories. Then tonight, I went to the gym again, about 850 calories burned tonight. So, this week, that is 3350 calories. Considering each pound is about 3000 calories, I lost a pound already and it's only been three days. I don't go to the gym on weekends, but Luc and I usually walk downtown, go to the farmer's market, etc, so that's usually about 4 hours of walking around. Another 1/4 pound there. If I keep my eating habits the same, or better, I'm gonna be Queen of the Office in no time!!

I want Luc to win too, because I want him to reach his weightloss goals too....but I really want to win. Maybe he can reach his goals a few days after I reach mine :) tee hee.

Office-Queen-in-waiting, signing off...

Busy Weekend

2008-05-14T17:53:00.004-04:00

As you can tell by the post title, we had a very busy weekend. I spent all day Saturday working on a baptism cake (no joke - it took all day from about noon until somewhere past 10 at night), my sister had her little one baptized on Sunday (we had a party with her in-laws and our family), and on Monday, we spent the day with my parents as they had come down for the baptism and were heading out the next day.

All in all, it was a wonderful time. The cake was a big hit, the baby slept all the way through the baptism (this is a big deal because she's very gassy lately and has some digestion issues and spends most of her time crying and screaming) and we had a good time with my parents. I made it through the weekend unscathed.

And we got to take home the left over cake!!! And now there's no more left :)

Luc likes his cake - he was sitting on the couch earlier and said "It's too bad there can't be cake every day!" I agree :) Luckily, I have a pound or so of icing sugar left :)

Baptism Cake

2008-05-09T23:20:00.003-04:00

So last week my sister came over to my neighbourhood to look at some pastry shops so she could order a baptism cake for her little one. We saw some delicious-looking cakes and she decided on a few potentials.

Well, I called her last week remind her that if she was gonna order a cake, that she had to do it before the weekend as they required a week to do it.

She told me that her husband didn't want to make a big deal of it and that it would probably be easier to get a Costco cake. I could tell it wasn't exactly what she wanted but she was okay with that.

The reason she wanted to do something special was that she didn't do anythnig for her first child and she regrets it.

So the other day I called her and I told her that I would make the cake she wanted. I would do it like in the books she had seen, and I would do it with what she wanted written on it, etc. What she wanted was two rectangle cakes side by side so that it looks like an open book and it's decorated like that. With a ribbon down the middle, it ends up looking like a bible - perfectly appropriate for a baptism. So, I told her I would do that for her.

Two days ago, I made a mock-up cake which I have to say, Luc thoroughly enjoyed. I however, was so sick with stress and cake-eating that I snapped at Luc and ate WAY too much sugar. Well, we seem to have figured out a good recipe for the fondant icing she wanted, so things are better. Hopefully my sister, her in-laws, my parents, and all of her friends like it.

I am very nervous about this cake as about 20 people will be looking at it. I know it tastes good (we ate enough of the mock-up cake to know this.) I'm sure I can do a good job - it's just that it's WAY too late in case something goes wrong that at this point, my sister couldn't buy another one in time. I have about 4 pounds of icing sugar with which to make a crapload of fondant, icing, and decorations. I should be fine. I bought two pounds today out of panic that I might not have enough :) I may have a lot of icing sugar in the house if all goes well.

Anyways, I'll post pictures if it turns out. If it doesn't, I'll be the one screaming :)

Free Stuff

2008-05-09T23:14:00.002-04:00

Today, Luc and I were walking around Walmart and what did we hear on the PA system but the voice of a man giving away free stuff. That's right! There was a guy doing demos of knife sets at Walmart, and if you listened to the spiel, you got a free paring knife. Luc and I decided what the heck! I need a paring knife anyways. So we went, listened to the 10 minute demo of these other knives he's trying to sell, then collected each our brand new shiny paring knife. I was thrilled! I love free stuff.

I can't believe how many people bought the knife sets (and added bonuses) for 28 bucks. It was insane. That guy was a good salesman, though some of his "stunts" were fixed.

Either way, free stuff is great! Apparently these paring knives will never get dull. I'll keep you all updated!

Bell

2008-05-07T13:58:00.004-04:00

I'm at the end of my rope with Bell. Just so you know.

They send me an email telling me I can access my invoices online to print them off. I go into the system to print off my invoices, then I click on the invoice and nothing loads. I talked to someone there 2 days ago and they assured me it would be fixed.

Today I went in to view and print off my bills again, it doesn't frickin' work. I'm about to scream.

I am talking to a rep right now, and one of his first questions is "Is your printer working okay?"

ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?

I told you the problem was that the invoices don't load on your website. It has nothing to do with my printer. Sheesh.

I need to relax. I can feel my blood pressure rising.

Now he's "looking into it."

Apparently, techs are working hard at solving my issue. Right. Why do you send me an email telling me I can access my info if it isn't accessible?

Oh, now he says, because I insisted I needed my invoices, that he can mail them to me. How is this supposed to be faster? Obviously, they don't think this issue will be resolved in the 3-5 days in which they expect me to get a paper copy of my invoices.

I pay for this service?

Edited: After getting disconnected with this rep TWICE, we verified my address and he's sending me my bills. Good thing I don't need them NOW!

Oy

2008-05-02T11:38:00.001-04:00

The day started out with Luc repeating everything I said. So, like any good wife, I turned the tables on him and started repeating everything HE said.

It's gonna be a long day :)

Luc is Funny

2008-05-02T01:12:00.002-04:00

So tonight, I had a conversation with Luc that went something like this:

Luc: Hey, do you want to watch this show with me at 7pm?
Me (teasing): I dunno. I might be out at that time.
Luc: Oh? Where you going?
Me (teasing again): I have a hot date.
Luc: You do?
Me: Yep
Luc: Well, can you bring me back a treat?

At that point I lost it and started laughing. He's not worried about me going on a date - he just wants me to bring him something back if I go out!! What a guy. That made me laugh all night.

Another one

2008-04-28T16:44:00.001-04:00

I think this says it all.

Another cartoon

2008-04-28T16:25:00.001-04:00

This one is of me and my friend monkeypants. This is basically what happened when she came to visit this past Christmas.

Cartoon

2008-04-28T15:50:00.004-04:00

Luc and I created this cartoon about ourselves.

Aging

2008-04-22T00:06:00.003-04:00

A recent post on a friend's blog about her 40th birthday has me thinking about a break-down I suffered (tears and all) the other day about my impending 35th birthday.

It's not that I fear death (it's not THAT close - God-willing!) I think my anxiety lies in the fact that I'm physically becoming older. Does that make sense? I mean, I remember when my MOTHER was 35! And I remember thinking that was old. My knees hurt sometimes if I sit on the floor too long and so does my back. I don't EVER remember that happening!

On my 30th birthday, I made a little video entitled "Thirty" in which I detailed my life and emotional state surrounding it. I'm considering making another video for my 35th birthday. I'm not sure what to add so far about my life - it's pretty much the same as it was at 30 except I've moved, I am now partner in a business, and I have a larger family that includes new nieces and a nephew and I've lost 45lbs so far. I guess A LOT has changed! But I'm still the same inside.

I guess the good thing about getting older is that you discover more who you are. It doesn't seem like it sometimes, between working, keeping up a home, being a spouse, and everything else we do in a day, but I really believe that at least for me, as I get older, I realize more and more who I am. I know who my friends are, I know who I can trust, I know what I like in terms of clothes, art, even home furnishings, what I'd like to achieve in my life, and who I am as a person.

Maybe 35 won't be so bad. I'll know in a couple of months :) Maybe with the right attitude, it'll be okay. I've already cried over it, so maybe I should take the other road now and face it positively and confidently. Maybe that can be my present to myself - to accept my age and to quit seeing myself as getting old. It's inevitable - why obsess and give myself wrinkles? That's what I'll do.

And I can start by not saying "Not bad for an old lady!" Whenever Luc compliments me, for example, he'll say, "Oh, you look nice today", or "You look pretty."

I usually reply with "Thanks! Not bad for an old lady, eh?"

Even if I mean it as a joke, it's not helping :) I gotta try to stop that :)

Interesting

2008-04-14T20:14:00.002-04:00

Every once in a while I see something that shocks me and fascinates me at the same time. This time, it's the Homicide Report of the LA Times.

Every time someone is murdered in Los Angeles, these reporters blog about it. Some entries are long, some are just the facts, ma'am. It's a glimpse into a subculture that you rarely see.

This seems to tie into my previous blog entry (see below) and the one below it too as well, the one about Grandma - about growing up and growing old. About what's important in life and what life is worth to you.

It can't be easy for those reporters to be in death every day but because of this work we can appreciate and realise how fragile life is. I'm pretty sure none of those victims expect what happened to them. What if, because of this Homicide Report, we value our own life a little more, we show love to our spouse a little bit more, we take time to help someone? In short, we do what we would do should we know tragedy was about to strike; we valued our life and that of those people and things around us. I think that would be the definition of humanity and fulfillment.

49UP

2008-04-14T19:58:00.003-04:00

I just finished watching one of the most fascinating documentaries I've ever seen.

It was started as a project in 1964 in London, UK where they interviewed around 14 kids, 7 year olds, and they have followed them, re-interviewing them every 7 years since then. This one I watched was called 49UP (the original was called 7UP) and the interviewees are all now aged 49. It's dated 2006.

I had seen the first one, 7UP, a dozen years ago on a documentary channel, but had never seen any of the subsequent ones. This one was nice to watch as it is a sort of culmination of the past 7 films, taking them up to age 49. It's a really neat study about life, because they ask the kids what they think of marriage, life, career goals, class structure. The kids they chose came from different backgrounds - some from East London (a tradionally middle-class area) to very privledged children who had their futures decided for them. Some children were living in government children's homes and some were at boarding schools. Some came from single family homes, others from homes going through divorce.

I came away with the feeling that this must be an incredibly brave and difficult thing to do. And some interviewees mentioned this; that every seven years, you open up old wounds, you have to reflect on your life. There must also always be this incredible compulsion to perform - to have some great progression to your life so that when they come back to interview you, you've accomplished something. And all your mistakes are there for every one to see. I'm not sure I'd be brave enough. I think I would do it if I were asked something like this, but I'm not sure. There's a part of me that would find the whole process kind of liberating - you are what you are and it's out there for everyone to see - but there's this other aspect that I would feel pressure to excel or perform that I think would drive me batty.

If you ever have a chance to see this film, I highly recommend it. It's a really neat study of life; of its progression, it's successes and failures, what's important and what isn't. I really enjoyed it.

TuneQueen

97 Years of Life

2008-04-14T00:06:00.003-04:00

Luc's grandma, whom I call Grandma because I've adopted her :), recently celebrated her 97th birthday. She's the cutest little thing. You cannot tell she's related to Luc except perhaps for her relaxed and easygoing demeanor which Luc has also.

She's about 5 feet tall while Luc is nearly 6'3" so when they stand next to each other, it's a sight to see.

Her daughter and two sons, ranging in age from late 50s to mid 70s took her to the local casino for a day out. The great thing about Grandma is that she is totally "all there." You can have a complete conversation with her about nearly every subject and she knows exactly what you're talking about. She's totally on the ball.

We met them at the casino today and had a great time. Grandma wasn't expecting us, so we were a nice surprise for her.

The coolest thing happened when we were there. A lady sitting at a slot machine across from us won $2000! She was pretty excited - so excited that she was fanning herself! I clapped, congratulating her and she threw her arms in the air cheering herself. She was so excited. I went over to congratulate her on her feat - I told her that you don't really see that many people winning a large amount and I was really glad for her. She seemed like a nice lady and she was by herself, so she had no one to share her joy of winning with.

I was chatting with the lucky lady at her machine, and as she was telling me why she was at the casino today, I just happened to mention that we were here celebrating Grandma's 97th birthday. Well, she pulls $20 of her winnings and gives it to me. She said, that's for Grandma's birthday - Happy Birthday! I was stunned! She was a perfect stranger.

I took her to see Grandma and told Grandma what the lady had given for her. She and her spoke for a bit. Grandma was so excited! She couldn't believe a total stranger would give her a birthday gift. The woman told me she won $400 earlier during her day at the Casino, so she could afford to treat Grandma! Whether she won $2400 or 2 million, not a lot of people would do that for Grandma. Maybe she could see the love we had for Grandma or maybe she just wanted to share her winnings, either way, she sure made Grandma's day. Around the same time, Grandma won $250 at the slots.

Bookcrossing

2008-04-07T18:43:00.005-04:00

So I discovered this a while ago as one of Luc's friends was doing this Bookcrossings thing. It is an international book exchange of sorts. What you do is if you have a book you want to "release" into the wild, you create an account on Bookcrossing, you register the book you are releasing, and you write a little blurb in the book that tells the person who will find your book that they can go visit Bookcrossing and write in to update where your book is being read. They can then re-release the book for someone else to find.

Conversely, if you find a book that has a Bookcrossing label or message inside, you can go online and see where the book was released, what the releaser wrote, then keep the whole thing going by re-releasing it.

I think it's just a brilliant idea and it turned out to be a great way to get rid of a few books I had kicking around that I didn't know what to do with. One was a book about Plato (remnants of University) and the other was a fiction book I got when I was a teen. Both are now free to be enjoyed by the world.

I actually got an email the other day from Bookcrossing that someone picked up my Plato book. They updated the file of the book, stating that they had found it and they had recently become interested in reading PLato so they were shocked and fascinated to find my book. I'm thrilled!! I haven't heard about the other book yet so I'll have to keep you all apprised.

If you have some books you'd like to release into the wild, check them out. You can also go see if anyone has released books near where you live so that you can hunt some down. This is the link.