With today being the kids’ first day back at school and all, I had big plans to get some stuff done around the house. On my list, in addition to tidying, dishes and vacuuming, was to organize the pantry. I figured that after getting the kids settled at school, I’d have some nervous energy to unleash on cleaning the house. What I didn’t anticipate was that my nervous energy would only be released by sending text after neurotic text to my girlfriend, anxiously pacing the house while doing nothing in particular, and attempting to phone or email everyone I know.

I got home approximately 4.5 hours ago and so far all I’ve managed to accomplish is the dishes. Oh, and a bit of tidying downstairs. Frankly, I’m not sure what happened to the other 4 hours. They just disappeared on me somehow.

Before heading off to school this morning, I took some pictures of the kids on the front porch.

Logan was ready and raring to go. He’s got no fear at all. He couldn’t wait to make new friends and meet his teacher.

Lily, on the other hand, was feeling a bit more apprehensive. She was worried that her teacher would be mean. I reassured her that everything would be fine and she’d have a great time at school. She seemed to accept my word for it and was happy enough on the walk to school.

When we got there, I was faced with the task of separating the kids into their seperate grade levels. The grade one kids were all sent to the library and the grade three kids were meeting in the small gym. When I walked into the library with Lily, I immediately noticed a group of parents and kids from her kindergarten class last year. I left Lily with one of the other moms while I took Logan to the gym, promising her that I’d be right back.

Right off the bat, Logan discovered that he was in the same class as his best friend, so when they left with their classmates to go to their new classroom, they were happy as clams.

I headed back to the library and chatted with the other moms (and a couple of dads) while we waited for the grade one teachers to sort out how they were going to organize the kids. Lily was feeling shy and nervous and wouldn’t even talk to the other kids she knew. She clung to me like a little monkey so I concentrated on trying to help her feel better while we waited.

Finally, the teachers were ready to read off their class lists. They informed us that, as of the day before, there were now going to be four grade one classes instead of three. When Lily’s teacher read off her list, I was disappointed to hear that Lily didn’t know a soul in her class. I was shocked as quite a few of the children from her kindergarten class had moved to the new school as well. As it turns out, the kids from the old school had all been separated, with each of the four girls going into a different classroom and the boys being separated as well. I’m sure it happened randomly but I was still upset that Lily would have to start out her school year without any “old” friends around.

When Lily and I got to her classroom, I noticed another little girl sitting at a group of desks alone and suggested that Lily sit next to her, hoping that they’d bond simply because of the fact that neither of them knew anyone else. Another upside to the extra class was that Lily’s class appeared to be quite small, with only about 15 kids in it. Plus, I instantly clicked with the aide that had been assigned to her classroom.

Once Lily was settled at the carpet so the teacher could take attendance and read a story, I was able to leave with no tears (Lily didn’t cry, either!) and head back home.

Normally, the kids and I make the walk from home to school in about ten minutes. On the way home today, I did it in five. Maybe I can translate this whole nervous energy thing into some massive, kickass weightloss! Actually, never mind. By next week, school will be old hat and I probably won’t move that quickly any more.

I’m off to pick them up again in about half an hour. I can’t wait to hear how their days went and I’m hoping and praying that Lily clicked with at least one other person in her class.

Whew. One day down. Only about a bazillion more to go.

______

In an unrelated note, I think my poor, unfortunate firstborn child has a future involving orthodontics of some type, don’t you?

Filed under: Confessions, Keepin' it Real, Me, Offspring | 3 Comments →

* I know, I know. It’s not actually a word. But, it totally should be.

Behold! Here is some of the random crap that has happened in my life recently:

If I ever had any doubts about being “done” after two children, the past two hours of my life spent sharpening as well as labelling 36 pencils and labelling 48 crayons, 48 colored pencils, 24 markers, 20 duotangs, 8 erasers, countless glue sticks, a couple of binders, scissors, pencil sharpeners, tissue boxes and shoes has cured me of it. If an “accident” were to happen, said accident is allowed no more than two letters in his or her name.

______________

Whenever I vacuum (which is frequently), my five year old daughter scrambles away in a panic. She is intelligent enough to understand that it is impossible for a human girl to fit inside a vacuum (though a hamster slides quite nicely down the hose, but that’s a story for another time), but she doesn’t want to take the risk, just in case.

______________

My husband is morphing rapidly into one of those eccentric, crabby old men. In addition to the striped Dad shirt that he insists upon wearing, he has recently embarked upon a crusade to beautify the neighborhood by walking up and down the boulevards with the lawn mower, merrily mowing away because “if none of these young whipper snappers care about how their neighborhood looks, somebody’s got to.”

______________

I recently bought an iPhone and holy crap, why did nobody tell me about these things earlier? I’ve had it since Friday and there’s a good four hours worth of my life that I’m never getting back. Who knew I could spend so much time helping a family cross a river on a raft? Don’t even get me started on the virtual checkers. I may never get any more housekeeping done ever again.

______________

A couple of weekends ago, I had a girls’ night out with some friends. We sat in the bar section of my favourite restaurant and I made lots of really inappropriate moaning noises as I ate what may possibly be the best butter chicken in the world. (Sorry, India. I really doubt you can top Albertan butter chicken and naan. I’d like to see you try, though. And send me some.)

Out of the six of us, three are married, two might as well be married and one has unloaded a total jerk of a husband and is now living a much happier life without him. Considering that she is currently unattached, she was quick to notice a table full of hot, muscular men close by. At one point, someone decided that we should try to sneak pictures of the hottest, most muscular one. We started out by setting the camera on the table, flash off, and trying to surreptitiously get a good shot of him. Failing that, I (emboldened as I was by my two bellinis and long-lasting marriage), grabbed the camera and tried to take pictures of him without actually looking as though I was taking pictures of him.

I started by taking a picture of the table:

Mmm. Bellinis.

Then I moved on to looking like I was fascinated by the lit-from-beneath liquor bottles at the bar:

(Seriously, that woman was side-eyeing us like mad the whole time. Pshh. We weren’t giggling maniacally and taking pictures of you, non-hot, non-muscular lady. Sheesh. You just can’t take some people anywhere without them causing some kind of scene.)

Finally, I took a picture of the hot guy in question:

We took the fact that he was staring right at us and smirking as a good sign.

My girlfriend, armed with the liquid courage provided by her second pitcher of Bellinis, asked the waitress to send him a drink, courtesy of her. Following that, a conversation was struck and before I knew it, I was standing in the middle of a bar, surrounded by cops and taking pictures of a bunch of poor schmucks who had no idea that the song they were flailing their arms in the air to was “It’s Raining Men.”

(True story.)

In the end, my friend decided that the hot, muscular guy was actually kind of a dud in the personality department (isn’t that always the way?) and we left not long after determining that the bar we were in must certainly be a gay bar. I’m just glad that the hot, muscular police officers I was taking pictures of didn’t decide to arrest me for invading their privacy that way. I guess a little crazy-stalkerish flattery goes a long way for some people.
_______________

So, what random crap has been going on in your life lately? Do tell!

Filed under: Confessions, Keepin' it Real, Me, Offspring, Random | 1 Comment →

My Gramma D. passed away in May of 1995. That’s fifteen years ago. Almost half my life. And yet, today when I was considering purchasing something off eBay from Great Britain, I thought to myself, “Gramma is from England, I’m sure she buys stuff from there all the time. I’ll phone her and ask how long it’ll take for my item to arrive.”

Funny how the mind works. Gone but not forgotten, indeed. Never forgotten.

And now, I’m sad. I think I’ll go find some pictures of my Gramma to look at for awhile.

Filed under: Confessions, Keepin' it Real, Me | 3 Comments →

Knowing that the Tooth Fairy is about to visit is a very exciting feeling.

What I want to know is this: why do my babies have to keep on growing up so quickly? I’m pretty sure I just ovulated…

Filed under: Happy Happy, Offspring | 1 Comment →

Alternate Title: The Party Edition! (woot! woot!)

Despite being up until nearly 3am the night before (a night which included me doing “the skinny arm” with Jenny, The Bloggess) -

- I managed to get up early enough to be downstairs by 8:30am to meet Karen and have my photo taken. I can’t deny it, I was nervous. I’m the type of person who ends up looking like Chandler from Friends when faced with a camera.

(I laughed SO HARD at this episode.)

Karen is remarkably easy to like, so the photo shoot was quick and easy. I was only a little nervous about having someone stand over me with a camera while I posed in a very busy public place. Karen kept me engaged in conversation while she shot which made it easy for me to let go of my nervousness and just have fun with it. When she showed me the picture she liked best, I was stunned. Surely this wasn’t the face of a woman running on 4.5 hours of sleep. Surely this wasn’t the face of a woman constantly kept on her toes editing herself out of bad picture after bad picture. This wasn’t a picture of me, surely. But, as I looked closer, I saw that it was, indeed, me. Plain, simple me. Karen must be some kind of a magician or something.

Thank you, Karen! There are no crazy eyes to be seen in this picture!

Karen included me in her 1000 Faces gallery and even did a write-up about her shoot with me. You can find it here.

AND, though I didn’t think it was possible, Karen took her awesomeness to a whole new level with this video she compiled of the pictures she shot during BlogHer. Amazing. You have to check it out! (psst – I’m in it! So cool!)

The rest of the day passed by quickly. I managed to eat both breakfast and lunch (go, me!), took a bit of a break in my hotel room to recharge and take a couple of shots of the view, -

(These were taken from the 25th floor and look how high the buildings go! I’ve never seen so many massively tall buildings all together in my life. It’s a trip, that’s for sure.)

- met the amazing and inspiring Anissa (and I’m still kicking myself for not getting a photo) and took in a couple more sessions, including an awesome one on humour blogging. Before I knew it, it was time for dinner!

My roommate, henceforth to be known as Andrea-with-an-accent, won a dinner for four at Etrusca and invited me as one of her guests.

(Photos taken by the above-mentioned Andrea-with-an-accent!)

The meal included an appetizer, main course, dessert and a bottle of wine, all of which were delicious. Even better than the food was the chance to meet two more wonderful women! Erin from Tales from a Marketing Mama and Sarah from Real Life were as charming and lovely in person as they are on their blogs.

After dinner, it was time to let my hair down and party it up at the various cocktail parties. As exhausted as I was by this point, I wasn’t going to miss these parties for the world.

I glammed myself up with glowsticks and danced at the Sparklecorn party.

No, really. I did. Here’s proof!

(What? That’s proof! My feet + the dance floor = dancing. It’s true!)

I ate Sparklecorn cake and didn’t feel even the slightest bit guilty about it.

I hugged on the always sweet and wonderful Katie from Motherbumper, a fellow Canadian and someone I’d been lucky enough to meet once before.

At the CheeseburgHer party, I decorated and donned a McDonald’s bag:

(Oh, yeah. There were beds flanking the dance floor. Not sure what they had in mind for them, but boy were they comfy!)

I danced with my new (and awesome!) friends Patty from NYC Girl at Heart:

As Cape Cod Turns and Melisa from Suburban Scrawl:

and Li from Her Deep Thoughts:

Look at me! I’m dancing!

You know it’s a good party when hundreds of women (and a few men!) purposely put bags on their heads and dance around.

And now, let’s play the “name the awesome bloggers I got to meet” game.

#1.
Hint: Y from Joy Unexpected

#2.
Hint: BOSSY!

#3.
Hint: Adam Avitable, Amy from The Bitchin’ Wives Club and, oh look! BOSSY!

Later, a bunch of us took over some couches in the lobby and chatted until the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday morning was full of mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was completely exhausted and altogether partied-out. On the other, I felt like I had barely even scratched the surface of what BlogHer ’10 had to offer. (Never mind the fact that there is still so much of New York that I desperately want to see!). I hadn’t even left yet and already, I was missing my new friends! In hindsight, I guess that’s the mark of a good conference. Always leave ‘em wanting more.

I’m really hoping that I am able to hit BlogHer ’11 next year, with my roomies by my side. While far too short, it was definitely one of the biggest, best experiences I’ve had in my life to date. Well played, BlogHer. Well played.

Filed under: Happy Happy, Keepin' it Real, Me | 4 Comments →

On Friday morning, I had planned to go to a BlogHer first-timers meet and greet between 7-8am. Following that was the newbie breakfast from 8-9am. When I squinted blearily at the clock, the numbers 8:47 glared angrily back at me. Oops. (To say that I’m not a morning person is putting it mildly.)

I showered, dressed and made my way downstairs to see if there was any breakfast left to be had (there wasn’t). Thankfully, I was able to score a coffee and I retreated back to my room to regroup for the day. I opened my Twitter (since my fracking phone service abandoned me at the border) and found a message from my roommate Momo letting me know where she was. Armed with an ally, I dragged my introvert self back down to the session room (late) and pulled up a section of carpet.

In a matter of moments, it was time for lunch and, attaching myself like glue to my gracious roomie, I filled my plate and sat down in the ballroom to eat.

After lunch, Momo and I made our way to the nearest Staples so that I could pick up my replacement business cards. We figured we’d be there and back in no time because we had a native New Yorker tell us, “Oh, it’s only three blocks away! No problem!” What she forgot to mention was that when a New Yorker says something is “only three blocks away!” what that New Yorker really means is, “three blocks to me, a million, zillion blocks to you! Muahahaha!” Sixth avenue became Fifth avenue and we figured we were almost there until Fifth avenue became Madison, which became Park which became Lexington which then FINALLY became Third. Then we had to navigate about fifty kajillion STREETS until we arrived at Staples.

(I guess New Yorkers don’t count all the “word” streets as actual blocks.)

(Hi Patty!)

Looking back, I think forgetting my business cards at home was actually a blessing in disguise because I don’t know if I would have had much of a chance to hit the streets of New York otherwise.

(Wow, New York has a lot of pigeons!)

(I’m pretty sure the closest I’ve ever come to seeing a pigeon before now is watching Bert from Sesame Street do his fancy little jig.)

(We have Seagulls here. It’s no better, trust me.)

Following an afternoon session, it was time for the Voices of the Year Community Keynote, Art Auction and Gala. For me, it was definitely a must-attend evening. I sat in the front row as I listened to speaker after speaker present her (or his, in one case!) chosen post from the stage. There was everything from same-sex marriage to breast cancer survival to talk of vaginas and even a New Moon rap. I laughed. I cried. I laughed until I cried. Most of all, I was deeply moved. It was an amazingly empowering feeling to know that these women (and man!) were bloggers, just like me. Their voices were heard and recognized. Those posts (and later, readings) forever impacted the lives of those who were lucky enough to witness them.

A post by Momo was chosen as a finalist and her words inspired a wonderful piece of art:

Art inspiring art. It makes me happy!

As I was walking through the art exhibit, Momo exclaimed, “Oh, there’s Karen! Let’s get in line!”

Karen is a blogger, a photographer (currently working on a project entitled 1000 Faces), an artist and a seeker of beauty. Actually, scratch that. Karen is a finder of beauty. In everything and everyone she sees, Karen finds beauty. I think she’s so successful at it because she embodies it so completely. I’ve never met anyone quite like her before. Karen is all long, lithe limbs, grace and composure. She’s kindness and no-nonsense mixed with a healthy dose of sass. She’s beautiful, inside and out.

On Friday night, Karen was spreading her message of empowerment by creating word art on the arms, legs, collarbones and backs of women. I watched women walk away, smiling, with words like empowered, strong, love and heart scrolled beautifully on their skin and wondered dubiously what Karen would choose to paint on my skin. As I got closer to the front of the line, I realized with horror that Karen wasn’t the one choosing the words to paint on these women. She was asking them to choose. I looked at Momo in shock, completely at a loss as to what on earth I’d ask Karen to paint, and did what I do best: make jokes.

“Maybe I’ll get her to write, ‘good enough’ on my arm,” I laughed. Momo laughed, shook her head and essentially told me that I was acting like a twit. Easy for her to say! She already had the perfect sentiment – a heart in honour of her amazing, heart-stealing son. I didn’t have anything specific in mind and I’m most definitely not used to shining a spotlight on myself.

When it was my turn to have Karen paint on me, Momo brought Karen up to speed on my little joke. “Can you believe she actually said that?” Momo cried with an impish smile in my direction. I was speechless at the fact that Momo, my dear, sweet roommate and twin sister MOMO had thrown me under the bus that way and I could only look at Karen with a shrug and a guilty smile.

There were no smiles in return from Karen. She shot me a side-eye and exclaimed, “Are you crazy? There is no way I’m writing that on your body. And just for suggesting it, you’ve lost the right to choose your words.”

With one last side-eye for good measure, Karen picked up her brush and began to paint.

When she was finished, I looked at my arm and couldn’t believe my eyes.

Uncommonly beautiful? Me? Never once ever in my life have I ever though about myself that way. Ever. I was equal parts mortified and giddily happy. “Thank you so much,” I whispered as I walked away.

“I don’t ever want to hear those other words come out of your mouth again!” Karen shot back.

A few minutes later, in an unusual burst of braveness, I blurted to Momo, “Do you think she’ll take my picture? I think I’m going to ask her!”

Karen didn’t even blink before replying, “Of course I will! Meet me in the lobby tomorrow morning!”

(The results of that little lesson in self-worth will be showcased in Part 3 for anyone interested in seeing what a photoshoot with me as the subject ends up looking like.)

As uncool as it may sound, I was so happy after meeting Karen (which never would have happened the way it did if it weren’t for Momo stepping up and forcing me to acknowledge that I have self-worth too, just the same as anyone else) that I felt like I was floating on a cloud for the rest of the night.

Momo and I met up with another of our roommates, an exhuberant, full-of-life girl by the name of geekbabe and a few other friends to head to a bar somewhere in Manhattan where the beer cost $10 a pop. We talked, laughed, joked, drank ridiculously expensive alcohol, made quiet fun at the skanky outfits on some of the girls walking around, bonded with other drunk girls in the horrifyingly bad smelling bathroom and just about got run over by about fifty seperate cars in our attempt to hail a cab back to the hotel. Then, at approximately two in the morning, I stood in line with two people I met for the first time just hours before, to buy meat from a cart on the street which we then successfully snuck into the hotel bar to eat with the rest of our crew.

I believe it was called Halal and it was a mixture of ground chicken and lamb, along with rice, cheese, lettuce, a yogurt dipping sauce and a hot sauce so hot that after one taste off the tip of my finger, I was convinced that my face was melting off. Maybe it was the fact that I was high on life, or a little tipsy, or just ridiculously tired, but it was the best meat-from-a-cart-in-the-street that I’ve ever tasted. And I’m not just saying that because it’s the only meat-from-a-cart-in-the-street that I’ve ever tasted.

When we had finished our late-night-snack, my roommates and friends seemed like they were ready to party all night and I decidedly wasn’t, so I excused myself and headed off to bed.

Despite the fact that I don’t even remember falling asleep, I managed to get up in time to meet Karen for my impromptu photo-shoot the following morning. (Because the early morning after a late night of drinking and debauchery is always the best time to have your portrait taken, am I right?)

Part Three (the final chapter) of my BlogHer ’10 experience is coming up next!

Filed under: Confessions, Happy Happy, Keepin' it Real, Me | 6 Comments →

I’ve been home from BlogHer ’10 for three (and a half) days and I’m still processing everything that happened during the two (and a half) days I was there. I didn’t think it was possible for so many life-changing events to occur in such a short time-span, but there it is. I am changed. A conference of this type will do that to a person and I am so very grateful for it.

In order to get through this and not forget anything, I’m going to have to think linearly. I’m going to go through my experience as it happened and when I’m finished, I will likely dedicate some separate posts to individual people, (not to mention my overly-analyzed emotions) so bear with me my lovelies.

My trip to New York was uneventful until I arrived at LaGuardia airport and realized that not only had I forgotten to figure out a way to make my Canadian cell phone work in the United States (and was therefore phone-less the entire weekend), my laptop wouldn’t connect to the free airport wifi. After several minutes of silent internal panic, I did the only thing I could and purchased a phone card with which to use the nasty public pay phone as I also had no American change on my person. I called my cab-share buddy and, upon receiving her business card, realized that my own were sitting on the kitchen counter. At home. 2000 miles away. Fantastic. I sighed in defeat, fished out my camera and began taking pictures in the cab, all the while trying to talk myself down from an epic anxiety attack. Thankfully, I was able to get to the Hilton in one frazzled, slightly sweaty piece.

I checked into my room and opened my laptop, attempting in vain to connect to the complimentary BlogHer wifi. Failing that, I used my phone card (on which I still have tons of minutes, so I may start randomly calling my newfound friends with it!) to call my husband and moan about how I had made the worst mistake ever in coming to New York by myself and why on God’s green earth did I ever think this was a good idea? Calm as ever, Lucky told me that once I’d had a moment to recover from my trip, I’d remember why I’d come and everything would be fine.

I took a few minutes to just breathe, trying to collect myself, and then I took the plunge and called my roommate to alert her to my presence.

“You’re here! I’m coming up!” she exclaimed and a few minutes later, she breezed into the room and enveloped me in a warm hug. Until that moment, I don’t think I had taken a complete breath since I wheeled my little suitcase off the plane an hour or so earlier. There’s just something innately kind about her, my lovely Momo Fali, which calmed me right down. I felt like I had known her all my life and thanks to her wonderfully supportive presence, I decided that I’d wasted enough time spazzing out in my hotel room and it was time to do what I had come here for: meet some fabulous people and have a good time.

Momo Fali and me, on my first official trek out into the world of BlogHer. This photo alone is proof of the changes I’ve been making in my life as the “old” me would never have posted a picture which showcased the chubby face and body in such an obvious way. Still, the gatefulness on my face for having found a friend is an obvious indicator of my mood at the moment, and so I am attempting to look past my imperfections and see what is truly there – me with a wonderful friend who didn’t think twice at taking me under her wing and making my trip a good one.

The rest of Thursday night is something of a blur but I do remember meeting another of my roommates, who instantly charmed me with her sweetness (not to mention her adorable southern accent.) In that moment, I knew that my BlogHer experience would be nothing short of amazing because if I’d managed to score two kind and wonderful women as roommates, how could I not find more of the same within the walls of this hotel? The three of us chatted for awhile before calling it a night. (Our fourth roommate didn’t arrive until after we’d gone to sleep and so I didn’t have a chance to meet her until Friday morning).

I’ll be back soon with Parts two and three!

Filed under: Happy Happy, Just My Luck, Keepin' it Real, Me | 7 Comments →

Psst. Go here. If you’re Canadian, I’m going to go out on a limb and say your chances of winning something look VERY good. Trust me.

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(What do you mean, you didn’t know I was gone?)

I’ll update on our family’s super-quick jaunt to the south later. For now, I have a question:

How is it possible that I used 60 sunblock and STILL ended up with a sunburned nose? Also: is it possible to burn your eyeballs even through your sunglasses? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure I did. Just sayin’.

(I am SO not built to go out in the daylight.)

Filed under: Keepin' it Real, Ponderings, Random | Add Comment →

Ten years.
8 jobs.
7 cars.
5 pets.
3 houses.
2 children.
1 wonderful marriage.
Countless memories, adventures, joys and accomplishments.
Limitless love and happiness.

Happy 10th Anniversary, honey! Here’s to many, many more. I love you!

Filed under: Happy Happy, Keepin' it Real, Me | 6 Comments →