12/21/2005

happy hoho

mustaches for kids update : $3633.18 raised.
ok so here is kirk's week 5 'stache.


thanks to everyone for their kind words. my aunt was a fantastic lady and a gifted artist. i'm really going to miss her.

like many, i've been sucked into the christmas vortex and am busy as all hell (which is kinda weird because i'm pretty sure i'm not a christian anymore). i think we're having dinner with friends and/or family every day for the next 9 days and won't have much time for you, dear internet.

that being said, i sincerely wish you some relaxing, guilt-free holidays.

stressed-out guilt is for LOSERS.

p.s. vote for chris christmas rodriguez.

12/14/2005

Last night my Aunt Debby died

She died of complications following a year long battle with some weird fucked up form of brain cancer. Originally, I wrote this big long post about how the medical community doesn't know shit about assisting dying people to die with dignity. But when I re-read it it was mostly incoherent, so I'll post again later.

12/09/2005

1 week to go!

Mustaches for Kids Toronto has raised almost $2200 so far and 1 week left before the big mustache ball. Kirk went to get his Week 5 photo taken tonight, but here's the Week 4.
kirk_week4

This is my most recent painting. It's from a photo given to me by my friend Howard. It's is his village in Newfoundland.


On the way home last night from a massage (oh god, EVERYONE should have one) I passed this house. I was momentarily blinded by its radiance and had to go back and take a picture.
christmas vacation

This is what my neighbourhood looked like this morning.
Dec 9 2005  7:30am
Since I woke up late, it was a bit of an inconvenience. That's because everyone in Toronto is retarded the first time the snow flies. For examples, read THIS and THIS. What makes driving in Toronto even more terrifying than a measely 10 cm (4in) snowfall? THIS.

I currently am sifting through 600 photos to sort out an online photo gallery of the wedding and another 300 for the honeymoon. It's taking longer than I had expected it would. It's coming soon, I promise.

11/29/2005

just a little taste




...update...

kirk's week 3 snapshot:

11/18/2005

mustaches for kids!




We're not back for a whole week and Kirk is already busy growing a mustache for the Make a Wish Foundation here in Toronto.

See his progress and pledge a donation at http://www.m4ktoronto.org.



Wedding & honeymoon photos coming soon!

11/03/2005

here we are

thanks for the well wishes!!! just stopping in to a cybercafe just outside of scarborough, tobago. man is it HOT here. so far we are having a great time. our wedding was so much fun, i'll have to tell you all about it when we get back to toronto. suffice it to say many, many shots of sambuca and limoncello were involved as well as way more food than most people could possible consume in one evening.

10/29/2005

bridezilla revisited

well. tonight is my last night as an unmarried harlot living in sin with her "get-the-milk-for-free" bohunk.

tonight we had our rehearsal dinner at my parents place and we had a great time. afterwards i checked out this AWESOME halloween party as bridezilla and was about to climb into bed when i realized, HOLY SHIT, I'm not going to even SEE a computer for the next 12 days.

on sunday, we fly out to trinidad and tobago, where i hope to enjoy tropical storm/hurricane-free weather, and lots and lots of sleeping.

and sexing.

awwwwwww yeahhhhh

peace out.

10/19/2005

10 days and counting

There is so much going on right now. Wow. Ok, so I'm getting married in 10 days. A Halloween wedding. I'm super excited.

With my past event management experience, I've pretty much managed not go all bridezilla on everyone. Mostly.

We've sorted out the venue, the marriage licence, met with the officiant, wrote the ceremony, bought the cake, booked the flowers, made the guests' takeaway gift, picked up dress, suit, booked the honeymoon(sigh. honeymoon. i want to be there. right. now.). What's left?

1. Decoration of the ceremony and reception area. We're going with a harvest kinda theme. The halloween part? Everyone's going to get halloween candy, and a Nightmare before Christmas/Corpse Bride-inspired cake and the whole bridal party will be dressed in black on black except me in ivory and silver.

2. Practice dancing. As I mentioned before, Kirk doesn't really enjoy the whole dancing thing. Hence the practicing. Which is great because we're finally starting to really move together. I have to admit I was a little worried that we'd end up looking like we were in the 6th grade at our first boy/girl dance.

3. Program a soundtrack for the evening. We need to cover the ceremony, reception and our first dance. Here are some of the tracks we're thinking about including:

Ice Cream - Sarah McLachlan
Anniversary Song - Cowboy Junkies
Wedding Song - Bob Dylan
We Are Going To Be Friends - The White Stripes
Mushaboom - Feist

Any other music suggestions?

It's a good thing we've got most of it done early. I am so busy at work right now it's not even funny. Oh, and I fell on the stairs again and smashed my other leg. I was carrying a lot of shit up the stairs and the toe of my boot caught a step and well, let's just say it's a good thing I'm wearing a long dress.

10/01/2005

Vice Magazine is the SHIT.

Vice Magazine - Kill Your Parents issue


I think there's a lot of really great writing and pointed arguments about the the baby boomer generation in this issue. That being said, I still love my parents and don't really want to kill them.

My parents are of that generation and while I would do everything in my power to make sure they are loved and cared for as they age, just as they did for me as a child, I've made it pretty clear to them, that it's THEIR responsibility to prepare for their future financially.My brother and I will never be able to afford to support them with the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed. Hell, we can't even truly afford to support ourselves with the lifestyle we were accustomed to at home with them.

A few years ago, Kirk and I decided that RRSP's and the concept of retirement is BULLSHIT.

Why the hell, should I give a significant percentage of my earnings to some other person who's going to do something better with it than PAYING OFF OUR MORTGAGE. Because lets just face it, the ONLY way to own a home these days is to carry a mortgage. If I have a third of my earnings goes to taxes, another third to my mortgage, then most of that third is spent on school loans, car lease, insurance, property taxes and credit cards oh and eating and let's not forget entertainment. WHY THE FUCK would I take what little I have I have left and save it for my "retirement". I'm 31 years old! Who the hell knows what the world will be like in another 30 years. I need to see that I've worked for something tangible. Something real. NOW.That's why Kirk and I decided to bust our asses to own land. Seriously, real estate is the only way to go.

9/30/2005

i'm such a geek

Today I read THIS. Oh and on Sunday I'm going to see THIS and I CAN'T WAIT. I even bought the official movie magazine and everything.

9/27/2005

how boyish or girlish am i?

You Are 40% Boyish and 60% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch.
Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes.
You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them.
You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.


Thanks to :phil: for helping me clear that one up.

9/26/2005

kick it old school

One of my new favourite albums is Fischerspooner's Odyssey. I recently downloaded a bunch of tracks off of iTunes and I'm dancing my ass off over here. I've been checking out their dance/electronic section and I realize that I miss DANCING.

When I was in grade school I took ballet. In high school I loved going to dances. Not for the boys, but for the ass kicking jams of the late 80's.

From the ages of 17 to 23 I spent more time at raves and dance clubs than I did at home (Yes. like all good Italian girls I lived at home.) But hell, man, I used to KICK IT! Yeaaaah.

Like all good Italian girls, I was also in school full time and had a part-time job working 24 hours a week. But I was not very good at being good. I danced a lot, drank a lot, smoked A LOT of cigarettes and sometimes do some drugs 3 to 4 nights a week. After a few years I started to mostly just feel like shit a lot.

Then I moved out, did more of the previously mentioned stuff, then mostly just slept a lot.

Then I met Kirk. He was my perfect partner in crime. Then we quit the hard rocking life together. Perfect. Except for the part where he HATES DANCING. I haven't gone out dancing in oh, like 2 years. That's so pathetic.

What's even more pathetic is that my wedding is in 5 weeks and the part I'm most looking forward to, besides the honeymoon in Tobago, is the dancing.


Other recent iTunes downloads that I listen to A LOT:

Rasputina - Barracuda
Gorillaz - Dirty Harry
Apostle of Hustle - Baby, You're in Luck
Ashley McIsaac - Bitch
Princess Superstar - Quitting Smoking Song
Bing Ji Ling - Where is Your Love?
Telepopmusik - Don't Look Back
Soul Hooligan - Algebra
Brazilian Girls - Don't Stop
Billy Talent - Line and Sinker
Death From Above 1979 - Little Girl (Live)
The Mars Volta - L'Via L'Viaquez
Mos Def - Sex, Love, Money

And for Squid.

THIS is a TIM HORTONS

Note the super long drive-thru lineup.

9/11/2005

Photographic evidence of how bridal showers are actually meant to humiliate you.




You know, to actually earn all the ridiculously generous gifts from the loving and supportive family and friends in attendance.

9/01/2005

i'm home today with a blinding headache but just took a moment to read the paper online. I am so totally moved by the total devastation in the Gulf States in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, as well as by the resiliency of it's citizens. I'm sitting here sobbing, partially because of the headache but mostly from overwhelming empathy.

8/26/2005

mmmmmm.... onion rings and spring rolls and wedge fries ...ggauauuuuugggghhhhhh..**drool**

Right now all I really want to do is hate on the day I've had, but since it involved my work situation, I'm going to have to go ahead and not share any of that with you.

What I can say though, is that over the last 2 days I have ingested more fried food than a person should, really. While it was incredibly delicious, I am now paying for it.




Oh man, I'm so totally PMSsing right now, ya'll.




Poor Kirk.

8/24/2005

Happy Birthday Kirk!

Last weekend was Kirk's 31st birthday. We had both managed to get Friday off. That meant 2 whole days up north! Excellent. The usual 2-hour drive that we had planned meant we'd be at the cottage in time for a swim and a margarita. With Melissa and Melissa coming up on Saturday, it promised to be a fabulous weekend.

All was going according to The Plan From Which No One Must Deviate. Except for the whole part where 20 minutes en route and the sky opened up and pooped on the entire Greater Toronto Area.

Thankfully I had decided that the drive home rush (which starts at 3 pm on Friday afternoons) was too much of a pain in the ass to stay on the Don Valley Parkway. I figured we'd just snake our way north and east, so we got off at Don Mills.

Almost as soon as I was relieved that we were way better off than those chumps on the DVP, I was driving blind. All I could see through the rain were the flashing hazard lights of other vehicles, which were the only things keeping me from veering off the road.

Lightning. Thunder. Oscar on the floor of Betty, our Volvo 240 DL station wagon.

I gunned the engine through a river of water for about 3km (which is mostly uphill). It came up to the top of the tires, forming a wake behind the car that splashed into the front windows. They were open so that the whole car wouldn't fog up and we'd really be fucked. Because of some lame-ass power outage, most of the lights at intersections were not operational, meaning they had to be treated like a 4-way stop.
(A major rule of the road, which many TOTAL ASSHOLES, more eager to get home than to care about the other people on the road, didn't bother to observe.) This took half an hour.

We pull over at a safe spot for a few minutes after about 45 minutes of the most intense driving I've done in ages. Some church parking lot. I needed to stop. I had to relax for a few minutes so I didn't kill us all by totally freaking out.

We turn on AM 640 and listen to the updates. Tornado and funnel cloud reports in the east end. Massive flooding in the north and centre of the city. OK then. After about 5 minutes, we realize that the parking lot has only one exit and the water at the foot of the driveway is rising, with the sewers incapable of holding the deluge. I wait for a gap in traffic and slam my foot on the gas and gave'er.

We made it through, but not unscathed. By the time we were far enough north to be out of the major weather pattern, an hour later, we were stuck in the drive home rush hour in suburban industrial wasteland. Anyone who has spent ANY time behind a vehicle in the GTA knows that traffic here is astronomically FUCKED UP. I had to ride the clutch the whole way, 'cause every time I stopped the car (and Toronto rush hour traffic means lots and lots of stopping), she would stall.

Once we got past the suburbs and made it to the country, it was smooth sailing. Five hours after we left home, we made it.

As soon as we dragged our provisions down to the cabin, Kirk and I slammed back a shot of Cuervo Gold and declared the Birthday Weekend ON! It was too cold out for margaritas so we settled for the Tequila.

Anyway, here are some photos that I took over the weekend.

birthday boy and his toys
This is Kirk. He turned 31 on August 21, 2005. He was such a good little cowboy, he got 2 r/c toys this year!

Bernard and his Bitches
This is the birthday card Kirk received from The Melissas.

oscar a.k.a. senior puppypants a.k.a monkey boy a.k.a. swimming machineoscar a.k.a. senior puppypants a.k.a monkey boy a.k.a. swimming machine

the infamous outhouse! a.k.a. die auspumpenhutte
Here is Oscar hanging out in the infamous outhouse a.k.a. die auspumpenhutte. This is where he hides during thunderstorms, far off gun shots and fireworks.

ridin' in Betty
This is me in my favourite Black Death Malt Liquor t-shirt.

Anyway. we didn't get any pictures of the storm because well, we weren't really thinking of it at the time, and the camera was packed in the trunk. meh. The rest of the weekend was exactly what we needed. relaxing. And now we're back to the same old grind. Working, sleeping, eating, cleaning and wedding planning. Yes, we're still getting married in October. More about that some other time. Maybe.



Here is a movie that I most definitely need to find a way to see

Most informative and well-written Sunshine Girl bio EVAR.

8/17/2005

i can't believe i've never been to this website before.

Bruce Campbell seems like a huge lovable prick. How can you NOT love him???

8/13/2005

open letter

Dear dude on my street with his right hand up his bum,

Don't do it......don't smell your.........gaaaaaaaahahhhhh...he fucking did it.

8/10/2005

Horrible AND hilarious!

I just found my copy of The Big Book of Bodily Functions. I highly recommend it.

Some new favourite expressions:
yen-shee baby
mexican lipstick
a cunt and a clap
full as a seaside shithouse on Boxing Day
to have a mouth like a nun's minge

Old standards:
turd-cutter
fudge baby
queef
dick splash
shit a brick
cock cheese
pork sword
bearded taco

Kind of weirded out by and don't really understand :
shake hands with the baby
smell the badger's touch-hole

someone think of a caption for this...please...


Courtesy of The Smoking Gun's mug shots page.

8/06/2005

Until I get photographic evidence of our outhouse's size to appease the Squid, here's a picture I took last weekend. highway 404 #1
See the rest here.

8/03/2005

cottage update






The pictures on the right show what I managed to accomplish this weekend within the first 10 minutes of being awake on Saturday morning. I had stayed in bed as long as possible and was therefore forced to RUN like the wind to get to the outhouse. Which is uphill from the cabin (everything is uphill from the cabin).

After the third step up the hill, I tripped and smashed my right shin into the next step up, then fell over onto the same step on my right side. My very poorly thought out plan was thwarted by my stupid fucking sports sandals. The toe caught one of the steps which is made of two 2 by 6's holding back a crapload of dirt. The step I hit was also made up of a couple 2 by 6's which was left dented. My shin was also stayed dented for about a half hour. I didn't get any photographic evidence of either dent due to the SEARING pain that was shooting up my leg as well as needing whatever focus I had left so as not to lost total bladder control. But you can see the steps in the 3rd photo there. Fucking stairs.

Anyway, I made it to the outhouse and spent an enjoyable weekend of swimming, eating, drinking and reading. Today it feels like someone tried to break my legs. The right shin is still a bit swollen and still hasn't bruised yet. I may have to go see a doctor. Fucking outhouses.

Here's what Kirk managed to accomplish on the sleeping cabin up from the main one. He go the windows at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. He's definitely a keeper.

7/25/2005

i may not be god, but at least i'm real

my new fave

7th Rim of Hell

Internet, I banish thee to the 7th Rim of Hell!!!!!!!!

buahahahaaahahahhaha...

hahhhahhahehaha...

hehe...

he...

h...

ack..

ahem

7/24/2005

better late than never


OH. MY. GAWD. The 40-Year Old Virgin.

7/22/2005

Two things you NEVER want to see

A friend of mine is a nurse in a palliative care facility. Yesterday her assistant was called to one of their resident's rooms for help. An elderly gentleman (I use this term loosely) wanted to shower and needed her help. When she arrived he was naked and sittin gin a chair. He was holding a bottle of shampoo and asked her to pour the shampoo for him...ON HIS CROTCH. Being the consummate professional that she is, she didn't really think anything of it, poured the shampoo and left. A few minutes later the same person calls for her again and as she opens the bathroom door he BLOWS his load all over himself and tells her that they make a great team. The poor woman worked the rest of her shift like a trooper since she had the next day off. I don't know how she managed. I felt sick just hearing about it.

Then this morning, I was stopped at a red light on my way to work and glanced in the rearview mirror. Only to be presented with the lovely image of some dude in the car behind me who was totally wanking it. I thought...no way...that's not...he wouldn't... Then as I drove away I checked the rearview again (HEY, it's a rearview and I was driving) and I noticed he was bouncing up and down and he kept throwing his head back and was driving with his left hand only.

I was so grossed out I totally had to tell EVERYONE at work about it. And now I'm telling the INTERNET.

Just sharing the love y'all.

7/18/2005

p.s.

Currently obsessed with Season 1 of

Most favourite recent episode from disc 2: Tobias is outed as a nevernude. David Cross ROCKS.

andrew and christian




These are my cousin marie's twin boys. I'm just trying out blogger's new photo tool.

Please enjoy these whilst I continue the gravy making.

7/13/2005

I'm making my own gravy!

Currently the thermometer is hovering around 32 degrees (that's 89 degrees american).

INSIDE MY APARTMENT.

Including the humidex: feels about 40 (or 104) degrees.

yikes!

I've been blessed with heat rashes, intense sweats and even more intense desires to bludgeon all who invade my personal space.

I wish I could live at my cottage all summer long. I NEED that lake. NOW.

...sigh...poor Kirk...

5/08/2005

Hulk's Diary That Is On The Internet

As far as weblogs go...pretty fucking hilarious.

The Darth Side comes in as a close second. (thanks Dave!)

4/06/2005

and now for some late-breaking news

To: The Internet
From: The Shmoopiest Poopee Ever

I know this is going to sound really lame and all, but HOLY CRAP, my life has lately been all about family crises, wedding planning, working, eating, sleeping, driving, cleaning a little painting and sometimes even breathing.

I'm not sure if you noticed but blogging isn't on this list at all.

sigh

3/20/2005

new bathroom

Here's a couple of shots of the new tile in our bathroom. My dad's buddy Vito came over earlier this week to rip out the rotten drywall that was in there and replaced it with THIS:

bathroom1

bathroom2

Oh it pays to work at a lumber yard. I get awesome discounts on materials. Thanks goodness, or else we could NEVER afford to have someone do it up for us!

glow

glow

This is a shot I took of the ceiling at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum.

This week's photo friday challenge

3/14/2005

Current top 10 reasons why I am so in love with my fiancee

10
He was able to calm my mother down after some asshole smashed one of our car windows which made it impossible for us to leave for our road trip to Halifax on time. We were stopping in Quebec City to drop off a relative who had been staying with my parents. My mother HATES it when things don't happen as scheduled. She freaked out on me and I was ready to tear her throat out but he took a few minutes with her on the phone and all was well. The only other man with that kind of power is my father.

9
He forgave all my crabby remarks while we were both quarantined to our bed all weekend for being infected with the NEVER ENDING COLD. (Seriously, I'm still blowing my nose after 5 days. What's up with that?)

8
The first time we ever hung out, we were out with a large group of friends. We all had had a few drinks, and it was late. I sat next to him on a sofa in the lounge area at the skateboard park run by a friend of ours. I lay my head on his shoulder and felt right at home. I know it sounds corny, but it's true.

7
He has a great sense of humour and can make me giggle even when I'm trying really hard to maintain my hard ass composure.

6
He has the softest lips and is an AWESOME kisser.

5
He was willing to be the sole breadwinner so that I could quit my job to avoid an impending nervous breakdown.

4
He has the most pinchable bum EVAR.

3
Yesterday he told me I was beautiful even though I was actually looking more like Robert Downey Jr. on a bender.

2
He loves me in spite of all my flaws. I mean, he still wants to marry me even though I was a dumbass when I said "What took you so long?"

1
We are not only lovers but best friends. A best friend is always willing to be open and honest, even when it hurts. And he is. And sometimes it does. In the end, our relationship always comes first.

3/09/2005

grrrrrrrrrrrrr....

I haven't slept well over the last few days and am grumpy as hell. I also now have a cold, thanks to the hundreds of sheets of paper I touch every day that have been touched by who knows how many other potentially sick people. It's the second cold I've had since I started working there.

Not a big deal to some, but considering before this job I had a cold maybe once a year, it's a big deal to me. COLDS SUCK. GERMS SUCK. That's why I wash my hands every 30 minutes or so and avoid touching my face unless my hands are clean. The worst part about that is my hands are super dry and all the skin around my cuticles is peeling, no matter how much cream I use. Not that it seems to matter any 'cause I still got sick anyway.

On the bright side, I still haven't ever wanted to set myself on fire.

update
I just sneezed 9 times in a row. That's GOT to be some kind of record.

update
I just checked the Guiness World Records website. According to them:

The longest sneezing bout ever recorded was that of 12-year-old schoolgirl Donna Griffiths of Worcestershire, UK. She started sneezing on January 13, 1981, sneezed an estimated million times in the first 365 days, and achieved her first sneeze-free day on September 16, 1983 - the 978th day. Her sneezing put Donna's face on the pages of newspapers around the world. Well-wishers inundated her with handkerchiefs and letters suggesting different cures. At the beginning, her sneezes erupted every minute but at the end they slowed down to one every five minutes. "I'm determined not to let it stop me from doing the things I like. I love swimming and I swim for the school," she said.

3/04/2005

obsession

obsession
most recent Photo Friday Challenge

2/28/2005

happy birthday to me!

Today I turned 31.

All in all it was a pretty good day. Work was fine - the usual. When I got home Kirk and I took Oscar out for a run in the fresh snow in the alleyway behind our building. Sadly we have no yard. ANYWAY, after that we joined Kathleen for a fabulous dinner at Cyrano's.

Now I am so full of booze and entrees and dessert that my only next move will to be fall asleep immediately after I finish typing thi........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

2/27/2005

ghostly


ghostly, originally uploaded by the shmoops.

Here's my current shot submitted to Photo Friday.

2/24/2005

It should be grand and not in tacksuits!

Kathleen and I went wedding dress shopping last week. Some mid-town wedding dress depot in a fairly industrial area.

it should be grand and not in tracksuits!

I was pretty nervous AND excited. After that year sabbatical which turned into a year and a half of recovery from getting smashed on the hood of some fucknut's mini-van, and after going into some debt to buy our cottage, I haven't had much opportunity to indulge in clothing consumerism as much as my inner fashionista would like me to. Now here I was, about to try on dresses that cost more that what I spent on clothes in the last 3 years! *

I found one dress that I liked and would have had a picture of me in it, but one of the store "attendants" hissed at me shortly after taking that one photo.


* I did go to Montreal last spring with my mum and bought a bunch of stuff that I love. But I was then a size 12 and am now a size 10. HUZZAH! you say? I wholeheartedly agree, except for the part where most of my clothes are either awesome but ill-filling or old, hole-y and patched. ...sigh...

2/18/2005

happy happy joy joy

I have just had my back deep-tissue massaged and holy smokes I am SERIOUSLY pre-menstrual. Oh joy. Evening's looking up though. Kirk rented Hebrew Hammer.

2/14/2005

currenly watching:

Rick Mercer's Sunday Report
Who else but Rick Mercer could get Pierre Berton to teach the Monday Report viewers to roll a joint (check October back issues for video). HUZZAH.

The Newsroom
If you liked The Office, you'll LOVE Ken Finkleman's George Findlay.

Carnivale
Possibly the most engrossing drama on television. Plus, it's got carnies!

OH and I'm soooooooo looking forward to the new motherfuckingcocksucking season of Deadwood

Best Valentine's Day Gift. EVER.

I never thought I'd be so attached to my name, but I am.

I was worried for a while that maybe Kirk might be offended that I didn't want to take his name. So of course, for the last few weeks, I've just totally avoided the subject altogether. He wasn't. Not at all. In fact, he told me that it was MY name and that it was totally up to me, that he would love me no matter what.

I love him so much I could just EXPLODE.

In the end I decided that I'm going to keep my last name for legal purposes, but would be happy to be called Mrs. Kirk when it suits us best.

(Oh, and we've decided that if/when we have children, they'll get both of our names - probably not hyphenated though, we'd be talking six syllables.)

2/11/2005

2/08/2005

currently wondering:

Whether or not to take Kirk's name once we're married.

Here's something cute to melt your heart by while you think about it.


oscar_snow

2/02/2005

"This is where if I had a dick, I'd tell you to suck it"

I was just watching Lake Placid (instead of painting). Betty White is KILLER.

Anyway, here's another inneresting Party Shuffle 15 of 5055 available songs stored on our portable Firewire drive:

Mudd Club - Frank Zappa
Echoes of Harlem - Roy Eldridge
The Thrill Is Gone - BB King
Ready or Not - The Fugees
Lapdance - N.E.R.D.
I Don't Wanna Be A Player - Incubus & Big Punisher
I Will - The Beatles
Roll'em Pete - Joe Williams
Consequence - Incubus
Moonrise - Nitin Sawhney
Fever - Kylie Minogue
Shelter - Rage Agains The Machine
Mary - Sarah Slean
Feelin' Good - Nina Simone (Joe Claussell Remix)
B-Boy Boullabaisse - The Beastie Boys
Conehead - Frank Zappa

He's a keeper.

Here's a pic the bread that MY man made last week. YUM.

MMM_bread

2/01/2005

Kirk and I are getting married on October 29, 2005. A Hallowe'en wedding. I'm so excited I could pee! I haven't planned a real party in YEARS.

As I mentioned before, My dad is STOKED, so our meal will be standard Italian-Canadian fare. I'm already kinda feeling full just thinking about it:


  • Open bar from 5:00pm to 1:00am
  • Hot and cold hors d'oeuvres
  • Champagne toast (Huzzah!)
  • Red and white wine as well as mineral water on each table (mmm...wine...)
  • Caesar salad (We're forgoing the usual prosciutto, melon and marinated seafood salad. Kirk's family is Scottish/German and don't really think of squid as food)
  • Two kinds of pasta (one with red sauce and one with white. c'mon people ya gadda give 'em options)
  • Chicken and steak (guests get to choose either, or OR BOTH!) with roasted potatoes and steamed veggies
  • Scoop of lemon sorbet (to cleanse the palate) and coffee
  • 10:30pm Sweet table (instead of wedding cake) and more coffee
  • Oh yeah, did I mention OPEN BAR ???


We did a great deal with the banquet hall so it looks like we're going to be able to keep to a pretty reasonable budget. I haven't started clothes shopping yet, but Kirk and I have talked it over and we both dig the idea of Edward Gorey/Tim Burton/Edardian gothic/Harvest as inspiration for the colour palette. Using black, deep purple and burgundy, with touches of mint, cream. coffee and cognac on the invitations, bridal party's clothes, tables and the ceremony. Oh, and I can't forget about the candles. LOTS AND LOTS of candles.

1/28/2005

good times

Trying out a new template. Linkage ('cause I'm an ASS and never bothered to save them)and other sundry items to come later.

Man, I need to geek out more. Since I started working in a non-Internet-enabled office, I barely ever have time to mess around with my 'puter.

1/25/2005

recently overheard

Kirk: Did you know that Debbie Gibson's going to be in Playboy?

Me: [watching Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkhaban]

Kirk: Did you even hear what I just said?

Me: Yes but don't really care about seeing Debbie Gibson naked. Do you?

Kirk: [long thoughtful pause] Maybe.

1/23/2005

family matters

It's been hard to post the last few days. Wedding plans are in a holding pattern as I'm in the middle of tough negotiations with a couple of banquet halls. My dad's footing a large part of the bill and I knew he'd want to have a big Italian wedding reception and they're THE best place to throw one of those. (Watch the Wedding Singer if you need some reference material Anyway, I'm hoping that by Tuesday I'll have the place booked, nail down a date, AND then find someone to officiate. Kirk and I are still a little fuzzy on the whole spiritual/god/religion/faith thing so we're definitely going with a civil service.

Today was my grandmother's 82nd birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NONNA MARIA!

We stopped in and visited with my family for a while. It seems that the appearance of babies in the last few years has definitely made it easier for everyone to get along. We're too busy marvelling at all the cuteness to be bothered by the usual irrirants. I ate way too much pizza and cake (standard italian canadian birthday party menu) and baby hands and cheeks.

I didn't think that my aunt Deb and uncle Vic we're going to make it. Deb's been fighthing a very agressive brain tumor for the last couple of months. Her neurosurgeon managed to remove a small portion of it last November and then intensive radiation treatments, five days a week for five weeks. Halfway through the treatments she started having seizures every few days. They did end up making it after all and I was shocked to see how her condition had so deteriorated since I saw her last at the beginning of December. She has lost most of her hair, is unrecognizably swollen and is losing muscle control in her right arm. There's been some talk of more surgery and chemo, but after seeing her, I wonder if she'd survive such an ordeal.

She told me she so hopes to be there on my wedding day. Even with everything she's gone through she still told me to call on her if I needed anything. All I could do to not start bawling was to hug her and tell her that I love her.

1/16/2005

next 15 songs on my itunes party shuffle

It's 9:30 am on Sunday morning and I am supposed to be cleaning. I tried...I really did, but dammit I MUST have music. So, I booted up the iMac, loaded up the iTunes party shuffle and here's what I got.

Fu-Gee-La (Refugee Camp Remix) - The Fugees
Rag Mama Rag - The Band
Bomb The World (Armageddon Version) - Michael Franti & Spearhead
Flame - Sebadoh
Suicide Chump - Frank Zappa
Perfect Silence - Scapegoat Wax
All You Facists - Billy Bragg and Wilco
Oh Canada - Rheostatics
Drafted Again - Frank Zappa
Absolute Beginners - David Bowie
War - Outkast
Sound and Vision - David Bowie
Julia - The Beatles
Tango Shoes - Bif Naked
Trance - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Now that I've shown you mine, please show me yours!

1/13/2005

Analyse This

I almost never remember my dreams but when I do it's usually a doozy. The last one happened about a month ago. I remember the dream vaguely but I found some notes today that I had taken that morning.

Here's what I can decipher from my chicken scratch:

It's the present, or some dystopian near future, where all semblance of social, political and economic order in North America are just GONE. Over night. The power grid and telecommunications systems are out. And I am alone and pregnant. Kirk is somewhere in Texas on business and there's no way to get in touch with him. All I know is that I have to leave immediately to find him.

I grab a knapsack and fill it with as much food and valuables as I can safely carry. I don't have any cash, so I fill my pockets with change from the change jar. I leave on foot and things are in total chaos. People are looting and beating each other. I'm totally freaked out, but keep as clear from others as I can travelling on foot.

Suddenly I'm getting out of a vehicle, having hitched a ride from someone. I'm on the side of a highway at an abandoned truck stop somewhere in Texas. It's late evening and I cross a field into a seemingly deserted suburban-type neighbourhood. Suddenly I hear shouts and gunshots far enough away that I'm not immediately terrified, but close enough that I know I need to find shelter FAST and before nightfall.

I sneak into a nearby backyard and see some small children playing in a sandbox in the next yard over. They look like they haven't eaten in days. My stomach grumbles in sympathy and I check my knapsack. All I have left is a stale loaf of bread. The shouts are getting closer now. I go around to the other side of the house and can see a group of people arguing, then fighting, savagely beating each other.

For some reason that's when the baby in my belly kicks for the first time and I gasp loudly, surprised by the sensation. I don't wait around to find out if they heard me, I immediately turn and run towards the children. I want to get them, and me out of there. I figure if those kids survived this long they must know a good hiding spot. They're surprised to see me, but don't run from me. I offer them my loaf of bread in exchange for asylum and as they reach for it their father comes storming out of nowhere holding a gun. I suddenly realize that he has something to do with the gunshots I heard earlier. I try to explain that I just need a place to stay for the night and he won't listen, he's threatening me. I tell him I'm pregnant and I need help, he points the gun at me and I bolt.

I don't hear any shots fired but I can't stop running. After a while, I'm gasping for breath and have to stop. Somehow I'm back near the truckstop and I can feel that Kirk is close by. I can see lights in one of the abandoned buildings. It's a small house that wasn't there the first time I was there. I walk up to it and knock on the door. A small group have barricaded themselves inside but open a window and let me in. They give me food and tell me I can rest here for the night but then I have to leave with them in the morning. It's not safe here.

I peer out of the window and notice 6 or 7 police cruisers doing donuts in the field I had crossed earlier but now instead of grass it's a field of mud. They're spinning around and around and around and all of a sudden the house we're in starts spinning like the cruisers. Then the cruisers turn into houses and we're all spinning around like some insane carnival ride. Instead of being scared all of us in the house are having fun and we're all shouting "Wheeeeeeeeeeee!"

That's when I wake up and it's 5 minutes before my alarm is supposed to go off.

1/08/2005

wedding fever - part deux

Last night Kirk and I went to a bridal show. I was going to go with my mom, but she had to work late, so Kirk offered to go with me.

Yes. He IS a keeper.

Within the first 3 minutes of entering the show, we were handed a plastic bag with 2 500-page wedding magazines. After about half an hour, we needed a frickin' sherpa to carry around the 30 lbs worth of paper that people were giving away. Some of it useful, but most of it unwanted, thrust into my hands before I even realized what was happening.

We were especially charmed by this one dude selling men's formal wear. Oily-haired, smarmy and unnaturally energetic, he cloyingly peddled his tuxedo rental information package to each man that walked by, which was often considering his booth was on the main aisle. After the third time we passed his booth, Kirk turned to me and said "We all look the same to them don't we?". To which I replied, "Pretty much. Keep in mind it's only day 1 of a 3-day show. That guy's going to be a total mess on Sunday."

Despide the hoardes of the cheesy DJs, videographers and limo companies, we did meet a couple of approachable, informative people folks, and we were sort of grateful for an opportunity to actually make some decisions about how much we could afford to do vs. how much we actually wanted to do. There were lots of great ideas for cakes, invitations, flowers and I got some more info on one of the venues I've got an appoinment with next Monday. Oh the wedding dresses that were modeled.

After watching about 15 minutes of the bridalwear fashion show, I decided that I absolutely do not want a big pouffy, flouncy, cream puff of a dress. Nor one that requires it's own attendant. I want something simple, sophisticated and sexy - more Sophia Loren than Cinderella.

I was going to go to a giant wedding dress sale today but I've had my fill of the wedding industry and wedding planning for a few days. Instead I went to paint at the studio and finally managed to get that workout in.

My left rotator cuff and left hip are a little fucked up right now. Turns out that sitting and lying down a lot and doing little physical exertion irritates old injuries from that time that that car hit me while I was crossing the street over 2 years ago. I am never going that long without working out EVER again.

Fybromyalgia anyone? None for me thanks, I exercise!

Seriously, no one was meant to do that much lying and sitting.

1/05/2005

Tim Horton welcomed by Tim Hortons

Front page news from Kirk's hometown: Tim Horton welcomed by Tim Hortons



1/03/2005

Welcome to 2005

So New Year's wasn't very hangover-y but it was still pretty damned yummy. I roasted a chicken, made some risotto with broccoli and ate that with some rolls that Kirk had baked the night before. Booze-wise we drank a bottle of wine, had some chocolate martinis and topped it off with some sparkling wine at midnight. We've basically spent the last few days holed up in our little home, eating and lounging, only venturing out to walk the dog. It's been sweet and romantic and TOTALLY lazy. Now, I'm trying to decide if I was really serious when I said I was going to work out today. My last day off before going back to work.

Anyway, while I mull that over, here is a list of things of stuff I'd like to do (in no particular order) in 2005:


  • paint SOMETHING every day
  • eat more fruits and veggies
  • spend more time outside of my home
  • weight train 2 days a week
  • take some other kind of class involving physical exertion 1 day a week
  • pay off as much of our line of credit as possible
  • renovate the bathroom
  • plan my wedding and successfully get married without turning into bridezilla
  • spend time with my baby cousins, so I'll have some idea of what I'm in for when Kirk and I decide to have kids
  • avoid buying prepared foods
  • actually go on vacation at least once a year. somewhere. anywhere.
  • make the cottage usable during the winter
  • read at least 1-2 books a month
  • drive less
  • use public transit
  • ride my bike
  • get a real website together to properly showcase my artwork
  • listen to more independant music
  • go see more live music
  • blog every day
  • see more art that isn't my own
  • more networking to promote myself as an artist
  • get back into volunteering
  • do more life drawing
  • re-paint our whole apartment
  • be more romantic
  • keep a journal
  • take more photos
  • often tell my friends and family how much I love them and appreciate them
  • clean out The Moo's litter box every day
  • somehow get my mitts on a digital SLR camera - preferably a Nikon D70 or a Nikon Coolpix 8800
  • learn to play poker


That's it for now. So I've decided to not go workout today. I called Marc (my awesome personal trainer brother) and we'll start our new routine next weekend.

WEDDING UPDATE
For this coming week I have:

  • a mostly final list of 110 invitees
  • 2 massive wedding dress sales to attend this week
  • 2 appoinments for wedding ceremony & reception venues
  • 2 wedding trade shows that I'm contemplating attending