Easter Dinner with Another Family

I got an awesome, random phone call the other day from one of my best friends, Scott, who was super sweet and invited boyfriend and I to his family's Easter dinner. At first I didn't think I could go because of work, and because they live an hour and a half away. 

But we ended up going! 

I stopped along the way to visit my sister and nephew, to see what the Easter bunny brought him. 

He was pretty happy with all his candy and chocolate, and his new toy cat. He wasn't so interested in the clothes :p

We took a picture together then I had to get back on the road. 

Easter dinner at Scott's was a lot of fun. His family is incredibly nice, where you feel comfortable like with your own family. He has a 6-month old niece and 3-week old nephew that were there too and I love seeing cute babies. 

We decorated the Easter tree while we waited for dinner to finish cooking.

It's so simple and cute. I want an Easter tree! (Does anyone else have something like this? I've never heard of them before)

We also did a quick sailor photoshoot before dinner.

Dinner was amazing. Ham, so many veggies, homemade rolls, and homemade lemon meringue or coconut cream pie for dessert. I ate two plates, plus pie, which is a lot for little me. Baby didn't go hungry that day.

We couldn't stick around for too long after dinner because I had to get back to town for work, so we left feeling happy and stuffed. It was a great Easter with someone else's family.

Recap: more travels, a year ago & fall TV

Tuesday, September 21

New Brunswick road trip

What was supposed to be a trip to NS for S. to get fitted for a dress, turned into a random roadtrip to NB with no real plans or destinations. We visited a couple of roadside attractions, went to the zoo, tried out Magnetic Hill (my 2nd time), visited the outdoor gym, hung out with A. for the first time in months!, went to Hopewell Rocks, had some awesome Arby's, and just had fun. Here are a few pictures. 

A. and me. Just a tiny bit windy. 

Me and my moose friend at the zoo

Pretty kitties

Otters were our favorite! 

Magnetic Hill

The Silver Fox

S. and me with penis rock at Hopewell Rocks

Thursday, September 23

It was my brother and sister's 19th birthday. They grow up so fast. 

I went out to a pub with mother and sister, where everyone drank wayy too much. We talked to lots of people, had some drinks bought for us, and made friends with the band, who stay at the hotel I work at. I was so excited when they dedicated a song to me. We talked to the guy a bit while the band was on break too. When I saw him at work the next day he even remembered mother and sister's names. 

Going out when you have to work the next morning is not a good idea though. Mom would agree with that as well. 

Friday, September 24

I felt horrible getting up for work, but I survived the day. My friend Scott was in town and stopped by to visit me at work on my last hour. When I was done we met up with B. and had supper together. The meal was great, especially being my first real meal of the day. 

Afterwards we did some quick video game and grocery shopping before Scott went home and I spent the night with B. 

He got me Playstation Move, which was hard to enjoy hungover, but still pretty cool. I was in bed nice and early that night, as we both had to work at 7:45 the next morning. 

Saturday, September 25

Thankfully, it was an easy day at work, since I was still pretty tired. But it was the last day before my sort of 3 day weekend. I was off at 4 and don't have to be back until Tuesday at 4. 

I met up with B. after work again and we played more PS Move. I rock at volleyball and table tennis, just sayin'. 

Later on we pooled our money together to get some BOGO McDonald's and some Haagen Dazs on sale. We tried vanilla almond a couple of nights ago (I LOVE it) and pralines and cream this time. He was a bigger fan of this stuff. Too bad it's regularly about $7 because I am in love. 

We watched American History X after getting back. Good, yet disturbing movie. 

Sunday, September 26

It's kind of a sad day today. It marks one year since Keith died. Although thinking about it doesn't hurt like it used to, I still miss the guy a lot. I miss our random MSN chats and taking pictures together and drinking the Captain. He really was one of the funniest people I've ever known. 

RIP Keith

On to happier things. 

I spent the morning with my love, and the afternoon with mother. 

We went to the farmer's market they were having downtown, a few cute gift/craft shops and Wal-Mart. The best place was Michael's, the craft store. I could spend millions in the store. Probably on scrapbooking supplies alone. There was so much I'd love to have. 

My favorite was the scrapbooking table and storage blocks like this one:

I would kill to have my own room just for crafts/scrapbooking. 

I also looked around the baking aisle. The materials available for making cakes is amazing. It's something else I would love to get into, but I can't afford to take on another hobby. 

I also spent some time on Good Reads today. I'm reading 'Smooth Talking Stranger' by Lisa Kleypas (bought in the Toronto Airport) and I'm really enjoying it. It makes me feel like I'm really getting back into reading. If anyone else is on Good Reads, friend me! 

One last random thought.. Desperate Housewives started tonight! I barely remember what was happening at the end of last season so I feel a bit out of it but I'm glad shows are starting back up again. I also have yet to watch Big Bang Theory's newest episode. It's waiting for me on the DVR for tomorrow. What are you guys watching this fall? 

Soon my bedtime. I'm hoping to get lots of tv and baking time tomorrow while everyone is at work. 

Hope you all had a great weekend! 

Random Mumblings

I've noticed that a lot of blogs break on weekends. There aren't near as many posts on Saturdays and Sundays as the rest of the week. I have two opinions on that.

I think it's kind of sweet that people take blog-break on weekends to spend time with their families and what-not.

I think it sucks that I'm stuck working the late shift basically every Saturday, leaving me with not much else to do besides blog, and read them. So while I would love to have the time off, and be busy with other things and ignore my blogging, I cannot. And since other people do, I'm left with less to do myself.

That was just a really drawn-out way of saying I'm sick of working Saturday nights.

I took a random trip to S.'s place for the night last night. We had some drinks and spent the night being 'us'. Being 'us' basically means we listened to awesome fast music, and let our upper bodies dance while sitting on the couch. Doesn't that sound like fun?

I walked on his treadmill for about 25 minutes. It was a mile. I was pretty tired out for awhile afterward. I lifted weights for a bit at the same time. I enjoyed it. If I had one, I would exercise a bit more.

I got to bed pretty late, and didn't have the best sleep. I slept from 2-3 this afternoon to make up for not sleeping during those hours in the AM.

I made a friend last night who told a story about his friend dying a few weeks ago. He paused and then went on to say that they revived him, he's still alive to this day, and doing great. I told him he didn't know how to tell a story. He argued saying it kept me on the edge of my seat, didn't it? I suppose, but it's still a little mean.

Hope you guys are having a fantastic weekend, so far I am.

The Story of Flat Venassa

I want to introduce you guys to both a friend of mine, and another part of myself we like to call 'Paper Me'. Lately we've heard someone talk about 'Flat Stanley', so we sometimes call it 'Flat Venassa'.

Me and my best friend S. lived together from April 2008 - August 2009, before I moved in with my boyfriend. One quiet night in March, sometime before St. Patrick's day, we were both home, a little bit bored, and tired of never really doing anything. So S. decided that we must start living life. And this is our story. 

We found enough paper and glued it together to me human-sized

I layed on this paper while S. traced the outline of my body

There are no pictures, but we spent an hour or two coloring with crayons. This was the result:

If I would've known all that Paper Me would end up doing, I would have chosen my wardrobe more carefully. Shirt says: "No need for mistletoe, I'll kiss you anywhere."

Paper Me's home became the ceiling above the couch in our livingroom.

She lived there for 5 happy months. She experienced many parties, including St. Patrick's Day celebration of 2009. 

She was present for an interview for the newspaper that S. did at our place. She met our friends, our families, our acquaintances. She was loved by all. When it was time for S. and myself to part at the end of August 2009, it was a tough decision trying to figure out who got custody. In the end, we thought she would have a better, more well-rounded life with S. Boy were we right!

STORY TO BE CONTINUED...

Weekend with friends

I have been a tiny bit MIA. 

This was my weekend.

We gave Mr. John A. MacDonald a drink

I had some drinks with best friends, followed by a mediocre bar night, and amazing chinese food.

I modeled some awesome lobster slippers! I wish they were mine.

Taking cute pictures of my engaged best friends

A photo-shoot on the steps of a nearby church

Me and S

On Sunday we stopped by the beach before all my friends went home.

Today was supposed to be even warmer (lies!) so my friend Sarah packed us a lunch of homemade egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches, some pudding, some Special K bars, and Kool-Aid pouches. She is great.

We spent the afternoon laying and walking on the beach. 

The wind was cold, but we all still got a little touch of sunburn in some way. 

Tonight was the first night of The Bachelorette. 

I am so excited about the rest of the season of this show, as fake and rigged as it can be. Ali is a cutie.

Hope your weekend was as great as mine was!