Well I finally got to go home for xmas! It was an amazing time. Got tons of stuff I wanted like a cordless drill, cool silverware, a new board game, a crockpot, orange pots and pans, etc. I also ate and drank my face off the entire time. So needless to say that this week has been a bit of a set back for my weight loss competition. Oh well. I'll just have to step it up to loose the pounds that I've gained during this week.
I still feel really positive about the lifestyle changes that I have accomplished so far.
So week one has come and gone. It has definitely been an interesting experience so far. I've been trying to avoid packaged foods and trying to focus on things found in canada's food guide. I've started going to the gym again although I haven't gone as often as I would have liked. So far week one has been very positive!
Happy New Years everybody! So I hope you all had a great night! Here is the rundown of my night:
So I worked until 5 and it was decently busy. Me and Kevin pretty much ran to safeway and the liquor store because both closed at 6. We hopped on a bus and headed to Kevins place where we started to drink, eat and get ready. We then walked to Linette's place and boy was it cold out. We had a drink along the way so that made it a bit better. We hung out at Linette's for a bit and then headed over to club dak. Well turns out that club dak is now a sports bar called Tapps. So we decided to have a drink and warm up a bit before we headed out. Well it was about this point in the evening that I noticed that our portable drink pretty much emptied in my purse. Yup about half a litre to a litre of booze in my purse. Well it pretty much leaked all over but at least nothing got ruined. Well we were going to go to a house party in south osborn but because we now had no booze, we proceeded to go to my house. Well we took a but that dropped us off on main street which meant that we had a bit of a walk ahead of us. Neither of us went pee before we left the bar so we had to take a pit stop behind some dumpsters (classy). We finally made it to my place and started to eat, drink, and play rockband. Phil came over to join us for a bit and then him and Kevin went on their way. I was thinking about joining the house party but then I thought that I had had a very successful night already and was content to leave it like that. So I put on Harry Potter and went to bed.
This was one of the best new years I have had in a while. Thanks Kevin for the amazing night!
Wow so it has obviously been awhile since I've wrote in this thing. Oops!
Well I'm writing now because I've started a weight loss competition that begins January 1st. The competition runs for 4 months and has weekly weigh ins. There is a $20 fee and the person that loses the most weight will get all of the money and the glory. I figured this competition would be a good way to keep everyone motivated to shed some extra pounds. I'm going to be using my blog as a way to document my weight loss attempt. I'm hoping that it will be motivating to the people who read it. So starting Friday, the competition is on!
So last night we played an awesome game where everyone takes turns playing songs on youtube. Everyone else has the ability to veto if they want to. I guess its not much of a game but it was really fun to see what people were choosing to play.
So it was a gal from works bday last night (but her party isnt until next week) so we decided to drink at my place and hit up the toad (surprise surprise). Well I kept pulling the "its her birthday" line out and we got tons of free drinks. Ran into a bunch of people I havent seen in ages and had a pretty darn good time.
I think the plan for tonight may be to go to the pal but who knows, we'll probably end up at the toad again. ha ha ha!
So one of my favorite things to do now is to go to the Cavern on Wednesdays for Karaoke. For those of you that have been unfortunate enough to hear me sing in public, you know what kind of torture I can inflict on peoples eardrums. Well this past wednesday a few of us pre drank at my place, hit up the toad patio (where a very awkward guy professed his love to me and i pretty much broke his heart by leaving) then hit up the cavern for some good old fashion karaoke. It wasnt very busy but that didnt stop us from dancing around, laughing our heads off and singing a ton to other people's songs. We did sing "You shook me all night long" and I think it went well. I gave'er until I pretty much lost my voice. So much fun!
So this weekend was a pretty good time. I spent 3hrs in Portage Place Mall while being stood up by Ryan. When he finally came to meet me, we decided to empty the leftover booze content of my fridge and head over to Mike and Nikitas place. Well they added their leftover booze to the bag and voila! the mystery bag was created. We ended up getting decently drunk and heading to the toad (of course). Well I completely forgot that the Rancid tribute was going on downstairs at the Cavern so I ditched out and ended up in the mosh pit for a while.
Had to work at the Happy Cooker the next day and it was a little rough. After work I took a nap and then bussed down pembina to meet some of my rez gals that I havent seen in a while. We drank and played cards and then ended up at Vivid (the old Coyotes). It was not a good bar and it was quite empty. I managed to split a cab with another gal that lived in the village and we got dropped off in front of the Toad. I met up with some people that I know and ended up partying at their place. I stumbled home around 5am. Had to work at the Happy Cooker the next day and it was a little rough, again.
After work headed to safeway to get some groceries and then just chilled for the rest of the day.
So I got my mind set on getting an iphone. So by the time I did all the research I decided that I really, really want one. So I decide to go and talk to a kiosk to see what the deal was. Well they checked and I was eligible for an upgrade but that they were out of stock. Well I've been harassing all three rogers locations in st vital mall for at least 3 weeks. Well after dealing with some very unpleasant sales people, I finally got my hands on one. Well I had my hands on one for about 30 seconds until they told me that Rogers changed their upgrade policy one week prior and that meant that I was no longer eligible for an upgrade. Yup so instead of buying a $200 phone, I would have to pay $800 instead or wait until Feb. NOT HAPPY! So then I called Rogers to complain and they said the best they could do was charge me full price and then give me a credit on my phone bill. I'm sorry but I'd rather not have a $600 credit on my phone bill, I would rather pay a smaller portion monthly and just pay the reg price for the phone I want. Nor do I have that kind of space on my modest $1000 limit credit card.
So one of the really good things about my job is that they offer mini internships for the head office in Montreal. So I have been recently applying for the buyers internship. This included an application about myself, a mini portfolio project and a weekly survey (that I've been filling out for at least 10 weeks now). This internship can be applied for by anyone in the company so I wasn't really expecting much.
Well I got a call on Wednesday from a lady in HR who was going to be interviewing me on Thursday morning if I was still interested. Well obviously I was and I think my interview went well. It consisted of 18 questions, some personal, some fashion related. I think it went well even though I was nervous, but the fact that I have a good phone voice probably helped a bit. The lady that is making the decisions will be back from holidays next week so they will either call me next week or the week after to let me know.
This internship would be perfect because its 3 months in Montreal with paid accommodations and a paid wage. Plus if I do a good job, there is a possibility of a permanent position. This would be so amazing because it's the perfect time in my life to be doing this cause I'm single, I dont own anything and I'm totally willing to move away from Winnipeg. So fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted!
So the Winnipeg ACDC show was sold out so we made a road trip out to Regina and what a road trip it was. We went to Brandon the first night to party with Michelle and crew for her bday. This night included a couple of pinatas, great food and a hot tub. Fun. Next night we drove to Regina in Marsha's newly pimped out car (she was not impressed with us). Had Sunday funday at a couple of bars (Ryan spilt a drink in my lap). Good stuff. Next day was ACDC.
Got our tix at 5pm, waited in line until 6pm, raced to the beer gardens, got some food and then the festivities began. So needless to say we took full advantage of the beer gardens and got our drink on. There were plenty of good people to check out including a bunch of mini angus', a few mullets, one hell of a mustache (on a woman) and a bunch of guys with creative acdc symbols in their hair. We had amazing seats and the show was epic. The show included an intro with the snowbirds, opening act the awakening, confetti, a wicked train, a gigantic bell, a big breasted blow up woman, plenty of cannons, and fireworks. Amazing. One of the best nights of my life!
So I just finished reading an article in a magazine about how emotional turning thirty can be for women (they call it a thrisis). I can definitely say that it is a nagging thing in the back of my mind. I'm going to be turning 29 this year so I have a bit of time left to worry about it. The magazine described it as sort of a midlife crisis except that you still have the power to completely change your life. There are so many expectations of what you should have or have had accomplished by this time and its scary when have none of these things have happened yet. The article mentioned that us ladies are a lot more ambitious and expect to have everything that previous ladies in their 50 have accomplished by the time we are thirty. That is a huge pressure. They also mentioned a saying that I really liked that is meant to help us out;
You can have it all. Just not all at once.
That is pretty liberating. Also the article mentioned that you can turn the trauma of turning 30 into a good experience by judging what is and is not working with your life and what you can do to accomplish some of the things that are important to you.
thats all.
This song definitely speaks to me and where I am in life right now.
Ok so I got two kittens a week ago and I know that it's weird that I havent written about them yet. I've just been to busy playing with them to write about it. That being said, I would like to introduce you to Lulu and Wally! Lulu is the fuzzy grey one and Wally is the tiny brown one with the little white face. Enjoy!
So I've started to get really bad at updating this thing. Oh well. So here are some things that I have been up to:
-Getting drunk with Marsha and Kevin on thur. Super fun stuff. Drank liquidy jello shots through a straw. Ghetto! Ended up at the toad as usual. Did I mention it was super fun stuff, cause it was!
-Fri- went for sushi with Ryan and then we ended up seeing Vaganza at the gas station theatre. It was pretty funny.
-Sat- worked and then headed to the gas station theatre to see Homeless, very moving. Went to the exchange and saw The Mutant. That was one of the worst things I have ever had to sit through but it was still better than transformers. Ha ha ha. Then we hit up the beer gardens and then hit up the toad. I had a very cute nice boy walk me home. Aw.
-Sun- Slept in!!!! Then went to the forks to read in the sunshine. Took the river walk home. Very lovely. Tammy is going to come over after work to see the babies for the first time. Aw Auntie Tammy.
So Thursday night me, Ryan, Marsha and Christen went to see Green Day with opening band The Bravery. So I would have to say that the Bravery is amazing and that I have downloaded a couple of their albums and have been rocking out to them since.
So that was a good start to the evening but I would have to say that it only got better from there. Intermission was some sort of drunken guy dressed up in a bunny suit and then Green Day came on stage and rocked the house. They really got the crowd involved which was really fun. They also had a very artistic and interesting backdrop that evolved over the course of the night. I would have to say that this was one of the best shows that I have ever seen.
So my internet connection hasnt been working the greatest lately so I'm sure I've missed writing about all kinds of stuff. Sorry.
I want to write about a really sad thing that I've been dealing with which is the passing away of my cat Layla May. She was really sick and went to the vet and I ended up spending a small fortune on her but unfortunately she never really got better. I took the day off on wednesday because I was going to take her back to the vet. Well I knew that there was the potential of having to decide if I was going to need to put her down so I decided to spend some quality time with her. In the morning I picked her up and she made a really funny noise. I just gently carried her around petting her and that is when I realized that she had died.
I'm taking comfort in the fact that at least she died at home and not at the vet. And as bad as it sounds, at least I didnt have to make the decision to put her down. But its been really hard because she meant so much to me. She was my baby. And now my apartment seems so empty and lonely. Having her around was such comfort to me when me and Matt broke up. She just made my apartment seem more like a home. I just miss her so much.
So my life has been so ridiculously crazied up that I cannot even write any details here. None. So if you've ever wondered if someone had a weirder life then you, the answer is yes and that someone is me. Yikes.
Well late is better than never and I totally just realized that I haven't given you fine folks the details of our "cross prairie extravaganza tour". Ha ha ha! Well I'll give you the details I remember (we did party like rockstars after all).
Well the tour consists of Regina, Calgary and Edmonton (officially).
Step 1: Regina!
Well we picked up our lovely trip members around 11am. The trip consists of Ryan (driver), Shannon (sort of navigator), Tammy and Taryn (back seat trouble makers). And headed out to Regina. Well we obviously saw a bunch of random places on the way that some of us have never seen so it was kind of neat. We ended up going to this town to get gas and realized that no only did it not have a gas station, it didnt have any stores what so ever. Who wants to live in a town like that? Yikes.
So we made it to Regina and with one minor navigational error, we make it to Lisa's place. We're a bit pooped but still ready to party. We got to meet Jarrod (Lisa's other half), who was a very nice guy! They took us to this place called Brewsters which had a gigantic beer selection. We drank a couple of pitchers of normal beer and had one of blueberry beer (interesting). We pretty much drank most of our beer and then the food arrived. Needless to say we were definitely feeling it at this time. Oh yeah by the way it was snowing/hailing when we walked to the restaurant. After the shananigans at Brewsters, we hail a cab and go to this "dive" bar called O'Hanlons. Well it was one of the nicest pubs I have ever been to, so I'm not sure what the actual dive bars look like in Regina. Well we were starting to get a bit tired (and full from all the beer) but we decided to play a few rounds of Mexico to liven things up. Finally the band started playing and they were called "Battle Snakes" and I thought 2 of the 3 members were super hot (we were not all in agreement). They were amazing! But the really amazing thing was that the drummer was wearing a Tugnut t-shirt. For those of you from my hometown that totally means something. I asked and apparently they kind of toured with them. What a weird coincidence. We spent the night at Lisa's place and then headed out in the morning. Before we left Regina, we had to take some photos next to the weirdest vaccum place I have ever seen: The Hillbilly Vac Shack. Yup strange.
Next stop Calgary!
Well we drove to Calgary and we found our hotel alright. Well it was a pretty crappy hotel but the price was right so who cares. Well the room was so small that it was only a matter of time before it became this stinky little room (and I mean stinky).
We got ready and Deena came to pick us up to go for supper at her restauraunt. I cant remember the name but I will update it when I know. Anyway, after taking one step in this place we realize that it is far too classy for our group. Oh well. The food was delicious! We ate till we were almost bursting (you could even see my food baby). Well just from eating so much and relaxing in the warm environment, we were starting to get a bit sleepy so Deena ordered us an "esspresso shaft". Yikes. I thought it was some kind of shot but it was a full drink that we had to chug through a straw. Remember that I dont like coffee and that we were all ready to burst and we chugged this drink. Well it was amazing and made us all instantly wired. I have to get the reciepe for that one. So then we hitched a cab and went to an actual kind of dive bar: Broken City.
Well we were all kind of full and against beer because of Regina so we all started hitting the hard stuff. Me and Deena decided that this should be a night to remember (and in that case most of it forgotten in a drunken haze) so we were given'er. Deena's other half Sheldon also joined us there, fun guy! There were tons of Jagerbombs done (in neat little cups no less). The DJ was amazing and played these great mixes of all kinds of songs. If I lived there, I would go there all the time. The people in Calgary were so friendly, it was a lot of fun.
It was so much fun that we spent the next day hanging out in our hotel room in various stages of hangover ness. We finally ventured out to the Chinook centre but none of us were really in the mood to shop. So we decided that nap time was in order and then eventually ventured to an East Side Marios were a poor waiter named Tyler had to deal with our dissoriented selves. When we left the car was covered in snow and it was sort of blizzarding out. Oh yeah and there was this crazy goose in the parking lot too!
Next day, Edmonton here we come!!!
After a shortish drive to Edmonton, we checked into our hotel that had a waterpark attached. Ryan was feeling kind of tired (from tossing and turning all night and making weird noises), so he slept while the rest of us checked out the outlet mall. It was sunny so we figured it wouldnt be that bad. Well it was snowing during the sunshine and that was one of the strangest things I have ever seen. Ryan picked us up and we went to a Chilis and I'd have to say that the Office, hypes that place up way too much. Went back to the hotel and started getting ready for the Killers!
So in true Shannon style, I decided to dress electically. I decided to wear my new fringe dress with my pleather leggings and had dramatic hair and makeup. Yup! The show was absolutely amazing. I just stood and danced the whole time. Here are some very sketchy videos that I took and keep in mind that I was half in the bag and for some reason thought that I could take video footage while dancing and singing and that it would turn out just fine. So yeah they're quite bad videos.
We met a bunch of guys that were sitting behind us and decided to go and party with them. Meanwhile Tammy, Taryn and my cousin Anthony were drinking a bottle of gin and heading to Whyte ave to meet us. We took the train thing and it was pretty cool. It turns out that we got off at the far side of Whyte ave so we had a bit of walking ahead of us. Well after a trip to the liquor store, the walk was suddenly not as bad. We eventutally made it to this place called Lucky 13 where every drink was only $3, so yeah we went a bit overboard. The rest of our group was supposed to meet us but apparently couldnt get in cause Anthony had on "gang apparel" ha ha ha, so funny if you knew my cousin, so not a gang member. So we met back at the hotel and tried to sleep it off.
Next day Kat came to meet us and we went to west Edmonton mall. Well I managed to spend a decent amount of money. Surprise surprise. but the rest of the group, not so much. We went for supper and then went back to the hotel. Kat and Ryan went to see a movie while the rest of us decided to be really lazy. We called up my cousin to see if he was up for anything really low key. We ended up going to a bowling alley near by to play pool (this is my fav story of the trip).
Well we were playing pool not really drinking. There was a name that tune contest going on and we were kind of bummed that we never joined cause we were getting a lot of the answers. Well a team left early and they asked if anyone wanted to take their place so we did. We were now "Team Awesome!" So that team wasnt doing well when we took over, but we ended up winning!!!! Yup we won!! We won a $30 bar tab that had to be used that night, the only catch was that they were closing soon so there wouldnt be time for us to drink it all. Are you kidding? We chugged 3 pitchers in a half an hour, closed the place down, and then decided that the obvious next course of action was to go to the strippers. Yep second time going to the strip club with my cousin! Ha ha ha! Well this was a fairly classy strip club. And after a couple more pitchers, we closed that place down too.
Next stop McDonalds drive through. Then hotel. Well needless to say that Ryan was not exactly pleased to see that we showed up at 3am hammered with strip club memorabilia when we were leaving at 8am to go back to Winnipeg.
We woke up at 8am (still so hammered) shoved our stuff in the car and then began our 16 road trip home. It poured the whole time. Yikes. So glad to be home.
Oh yeah and the tally goes as follows: First place Calgary, second Edmonton and third Regina. And yes those are based on which place has the hottest people. Congrats Calgary!
Oh yeah and a fascinating thing: None of us puked!!! Not once!!!
