Everybody here comes from somewhere that they would just as soon forget and disguise.

The above line comes from "Supernatural Superserious" from the new REM album. Yeah, it kind of sums up my weekend. I was in a crabby mood for most of it, and was not digging being in the Ratford, and I think I need an extended break from there. Maybe I'll get over it all in a week, but right now I'm slightly irritated that I let some stuff get the better of me this weekend.

It wasn't all bad though. I had a latte on a funky patio in the sun, a yummy dinner, and saw my friend who was an extra in Hamlet (they even made her wear an outift that made her look like Mary Poppins). And, I ended up missing the surprise TTC strike that hit on Friday night at midnight. By the time I was back in town, the subway was up and running again to take me home from the train station.

Now that the craziness of report cards/interviews and the like is over, I thought I'd feel like there wasn't a tonne of stuff on my plate, but alas, it still feels that way. Oh well, there are only 7 more weeks of regular classes. Then maybe my plate will be empty.

Hmmm, maybe my recent malaise is caused by too much caffeine consumption. I should try to get off of that, as well as sugar and preservatives and yucky chemicals. I vow this pretty much every week.

In exciting news, I might begin the summer by joining a friend on a roadtrip to a wedding in Newfoundland. I haven't decided yet, but I really can't see why I wouldn't go...

All right, think I'm going to curl up in bed with a book. Sounds like a plan.

I went to the country to escape the noise and lights.

Firstly, happy Earth Day tomorrow everyone! Hug a tree! ;) I'm taking some kids to plant a garden, and I'm looking forward to their reactions when they find out it will involve working with manure. They're such city slickers. Heck, I grew up in a far more rural environment, and when I was a teenager, I would have been all "ewwwwww" too, so I can't judge too much. But I can laugh.

The other way I'm going to celebrate Earth Day is by wearing my new green high top Chucks that I bought at the Converse outlet in Austin. Fun!

Yah, so I survived last week's busy busy week at work, and this week is pretty busy too, but we do have a PD day on Friday, which means no planning for me at least.

Hmmmm, what else is new... Oh, I got quite a bit of my hair cut off on Saturday. And, I went to a new salon that Becca T recommended to me, and I really liked it. Have I finally found a permanent hair place in Toronto after all these years? I think so.

The weather has been fabulous lately! I'm talking evening beers on patios, T-shirt weather, and frappucinos in the park. I love it.

I just made plans to spend the coming weekend in St. Ratford. I scored $10 to Hamlet. I have a friend who is involved with this production, hence the incentive to see it (and the fact that it's so cheap).

I had about 4 or so good blog posts going on in my head earlier in the week, but now that I've had a chance to sit down at the computer, they've all left my head. Perhaps another day they'll come to me...

It's like a book elegantly bound, but in a language that you can't read just yet.

A bunch of randomness on this sunny Monday that has the unfortunate misfortune (okay, maybe that was redundant but I'm leaving it) of being the start of a yucky week because I am very behind at work, and I have some deadlines coming up. Hence the blogging. Great procrastination tool.

1) Yesterday I was really crabby. It could have been due to a number of reasons, such as the looming hell of this upcoming week; buyer's remorse after I purchased a something very extravagant whilst shopping in Buffalo (I won't say what it is so that I can cover up how shallow I really am); the fact that everyone in my book club, except for the ever faithful Becca T, canceled on Sunday's meeting *after* I woke up early and went grocery shopping and cleaned my apartment; the fact that last week's cold is still lingering; or the fact that I did not have any caffeine. After a bit of thought, I realized that it was most likely the caffeine issue, and I went for a latte post haste and cheered up. I can't believe that I've gotten this addicted to caffeine. I used to just be a social drinker of coffee beverages, but now I have to have two a day, or else I'm a bit emotionally unstable. Goodness.

2) I love the new Death Cab for Cutie song "I Will Possess Your Heart". Emolicious I declare. I'm really looking forward to their new album.

3) Guilty pleasure = "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis. Shhh.

4) I bought tickets to a top secret event for Becca T's 30th bday in June. I'm pretty sure she never reads my blog, so I'm safe talk about it here. But, just in case, I've cleverly hidden what it is in this sentence, so the rest of you can figure it out, but she will remain in the dark, if she reads this, which she won't.

5) I just discovered that eating a cinnamon Altoid whilst drinking hot chocolate is extremely tasty. It reminds me of the taste of a Hagan Daas flavour of ice cream called Mayan Chocolate or something. I've only had that ice cream once, but decided that would be it, because I could get extremely addicted to it, since I do have an addictive personality, I think.

6) Whoa that sentence about about ice cream was extremely run-on. I would totally take marks off if I was an English teacher. But I'm leaving it.

7) When I go shopping in the US with friends, we will always eat at a chain restaurant that we don't have here like Chili's, or the Olive Garden (at least we don't have those in Ontario anymore). This weekend it was TGIFriday's, and I got one of their massive margaritas, which was tasty and rendered this lightweight a little bit tipsy. I totally entertained my friend when we went to a grocery store afterwards to stock up on junk food that we don't have here. I ended up buying chocolate-covered Altoids, which further strengthens my hypothesis that I do sometimes make some pretty good decisions under the influence of alcohol.

8) Oh look, since I just spent the past 30 minutes blogging and facebook-ing, it's time for bed and I don't have time to work on report card comments, and marking, etc. What a shame.

Foux Da Fa Fa

The Office tonight was so hilarious. Yay for new TV finally!! 30 Rock was also awesome.

I'm getting over my yucky beginning-of-spring cold. I would have totally taken a sick day, but I had too many commitments in the way. I had my staff book club meeting this week, and after buying and reading the book, there was no way that I was going to miss that.

The song "Foux Da Fa Fa" from Flight of the Conchords is constantly in my head. Constantly.

Today I had a couple of students who were so sweet they made me get a little bit teary. Those little incidents make it all totally worthwhile.

This weekend I'm going shopping in Buffalo with a friend on Saturday. On Sunday, I'm hosting my uni-friends book club meeting (100 pages left to read of that book). This means that I'm going to spend a wicked-ass Friday night of: a) doing laundry; b) cleaning my apartment; and c) food shopping for Sunday. Hopefully I'll also be able to go to bed at an appropriately lamely early time so that I can be rested for some power cross-border shopping on Saturday. I'm glad that any significantly deep moments that I have in life can be totally countered by the vapid-ness of a day of shopping.

Some of my friends at work and I meet up every Friday for lunch at various locations in the school. This Friday tradition was in danger of dying out a couple of weeks ago, so I brought it upon myself to make a schedule for our lunches for the rest of the school year. Due to this activity, I now know that only 10 more Fridays remain until exam time.

Wowsers.

But I would love it if you were here.

I've been complaining on here about the late arrival of spring *forever* on here. Well, now it's here, and I've been felled this weekend by a scratchy throat which has kind of made me want to hibernate inside of my apartment. However, I able to motivate myself to go outside this weekend by allowing myself to shop and do some updating of the spring wardrobe. So I did get some much needed sunshine and fresh air and vitamin D, but it did cost me. However, I'll be looking fabulous for the next couple of days!

The warm-ish (13 degrees Celsius) sunny weather didn't hit until yesterday though. I did have a fun dreary Friday, before the scratchy throat hit. I left work pronto with my work spouse (I should do a work spouse post one day explaining this concept), and we went out for Dim Sum. Then, I met up with my BFF Becca T and we had a great girls' night. After nixing Leatherheads due to meh reviews, we went to an enjoyable chick flick called Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day. Then we hung out at my apartment drinking beer and watching Flight of the Conchords and gossiping. I love a good girls' night.

In concert news, I'm booked to see Rilo Kiley in May with my friend Mathew. It's the day before the Matt Good concert, so that's two shows in two days. (Still nowhere close to the record 4 days of shows that I set during SXSW.) Yay!

Today's sunny weather made me want to listen to one of my all-time favourite albums: "You Were Here" by Sarah Harmer. Snowy weather also makes me want to listen to that album too. It's pretty all-purpose due to its brilliance.

I think my current mood these days is impatience. I was impatient for spring, and now that it seems to be here, I'm impatient for my scratchy throat to go away. I'm impatient for it to be the weekend again. I'm impatient for a lot of things these days. Not living in the moment is a fault of mine. I have to work on enjoying the here and now, instead of always looking to the future. I'm impatient for myself to get better at this skill.

I have the Juno awards (Cdn music awards) on the background. I used to get really excited for the Junos, since I'd see so many Cdn artists that I love. I'm still seeing quite a few being interviewed on the red carpet right now. I just saw poor Joel Plaskett being interviewed by Ben Mulroney. That Ben Mulroney is the most annoying human being on the planet, I do believe. Gah. Anyway, I don't get so excited for the Junos anymore; it's too hyped up now and they keep nominating artists who've been around forever as "Best New Artist". Egads. And indie bands don't get enough love. They get some, but less Avril, more indie would make me happy. But, it's still miles better than the Grammies and will be good background for an evening of catching up on marking on my couch. *sigh* The Sunday night blues hit me like clockwork.

Kick it out on the dancefloor like you just don't care.

Random list post today.

1) I love love love the new R.E.M. album. Would I love it even if it didn't bring back awesome seeing-them-live-at-SXSW memories? Yes.

2) I am the queen of weird quirks. Today I admitted that one weird thing I do is that when I'm buying milk and I check the expiry date, I think about what will be going on in my life when the milk expires (although I always finish it before then).

3) I am so addicted to caffeine these days. I need to stop but... it feels so good.

4) I am also addicted to hot chocolate. I honestly have three cups a day. Hoping warm weather, if it ever comes, helps me with both of these addictions. However, I feel that new addictions (frappucinos and ice cream) will take place of these.

5) One more week until a new Office episode!

6) Time is weird. It goes so fast sometimes, like during the weekend when you want to last, but very slowly during a long week, or when you're waiting for a concert, or when you miss someone, or when it's Friday's last class. Can't it quit being less difficult and reverse itself?

7) Low key weekend planned. Might go see Leatherheads with Becca T, although a quick check of the tomatometer only gives it 53% and we decided only to see it if it was certified fresh. Other than that, I'm going to catch up on work, and clean my apartment, and read my book for next weekend's book club meeting.

8) Yesterday, I had a really really deep thought as I was almost home, just approaching my apartment building. I now forget this revelation and it's bothering me. Too bad I couldn't remember it, because it might improve this post, which I think I'm going to end now, because I feel the urge to curl up in bed with a book and *another* hot chocolate and fall asleep insanely early.

You know with love come strange currencies.

Gargh. I'm going through a period of high levels of unmotivation. This insane amount of inactivity has lead to me even being unmotivated for the weekend. Why? Because I'm going to spend most of the weekend catching up on work because I'm so behind because of my unmotivated stated. Hence, I become even more unmotivated. It's so circular.

I blame the weather. Hello? Spring? Where are you? I'm not feeling you yet. I've got a snazzy new red coat that I'd like to wear, but I'm still stuck wearing my black down jacket with the faux fur around the hood. I mean, I loved it when I broke it out in November, but 5 months later, it's getting old and tired and ready to be put away for the season. It's time for new outerwear.

In happier news, I redeemed a free coffee today at Tim Horton's and won another on my next cup. Of course, I forgot my winning tab on my desk at work, so I guess I'll be paying for tomorrow's coffee, but still, at least I have something to look forward to this weekend, I guess. I think whoever at Tim Horton's decided to have "Roll Up the Rim to Win" at this time of year was brilliant. They know that spring never comes early in this country, no matter what the stupid groundhog says, and that we all need some sort of ray of hope at this time of year.

Okay, but in things to look forward to news, April 1st is the release day for the new REM album, and it's getting some good reviews. Of course, I did see most of it performed lived at SXSW (yeah, I know, shut up, you lucky duck Christielli, you), but still, I like when albums I'm excited for are getting good reviews. Also, Sweeny Todd comes out on DVD that day too, so I can buy it and see if I can desensitize myself to the gory parts. (Likely not since I'll keep my eyes closed during them.)

All right, well happy weekend. Hope everyone has more fun and does less work than I'll be doing! :D

Are you restless like me?

Yesterday was my blog's third birthday.

I'd known the bday was coming up for awhile, and I didn't feel like navigating the slowness of dial-up at the 'rents house, so I decided that I'd do the post today. I think that I would have forgotten about it, but this morning as I was on the train back to Toronto, I was listening to all of my Kathleen Edwards stuff on shuffle on my iPod, which included the album "Back To Me" which I always associate with the time period during which I started blogging.

I went back and read last year's blogoversary post to see what was going on last year. As I skimmed through last March's archives, I was amazed by the number of posts; I was blogging every 2 days! How did I find so much to say? I find these days I'm usually hurting to find something to blog about, or actually finding the time to blog.

I also noticed that I had complained about not having seen the Weakerthans in two years. Well, since then, I've see them *four times* (one being at SXSW, of course)! Yeah, baby!

Also, I was nervous/excited about having to move to my own place during the summer. Well, here I sit in said apartment now. I really feel like I lucked out. I love this apartment and I am digging the whole being on my own thing. I had thought that I'd get a cat when I had my own place. That hasn't happened. I think that an insane amount of running around (trips out West, Montreal, New York, Texas) has delayed me in that venture. I dunno about the cat thing. I'd still like a pet, but I enjoy the freedom, and lack of hair, brought about by not having a cat.

Lastly, in last year's blogoversary post, I'd commented that I'd enjoyed the social networking of blogging. Since then, I've actually met bloggers in real life, and I feel that my blog-life has totally overlapped with my real life. I've visited some bloggers, have had others visit me, participated in many blogger-CD exchanges, and just totally made friends for life through this thing. That was a totally unexpected, but very pleasant side effect of blogging that materialized in the past year of blogging.

So yeah, even though I feel that my posting mojo has perhaps waned in the past year, my blog is still an integral facet of my life, and it'll be interesting to see what will have happened in life come the next blogoversary.

I'll leave you with an awesome SXSW picture taken by my blog buddy AlieMalie ('cuz she's got mad camera skills) during the Weakerthans show. :)

I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye.

Things that I currently find enjoyable:

a) Found luggage! (My bag made it back from being stuck in Kansas City last night.)

b) Kimya Dawson's song "I Like Giants"

c) The free new REM video for the song "Living Well is the best Revenge" on iTunes (at least in the Cdn Itunes store)

d) Long hot showers (not environmentally friendly, I know, but enjoyable nevertheless)

e) Blue shampoo and conditioner - it's just fun putting something blue on my hair for some reason... makes getting up in the morning and getting ready for work a little less distasteful

f) The colour red (I got a new red coat for spring... if it ever comes, and a new red summer dress when I was in Texas... we do have summer here, right? I forget.)

g) Getting a Tim Horton's Half-Coffee-Half-Hot-Chocolate concoction in the morning. I still enjoy it even though my cup is never a winner.

h) Knitting mittens with sparkly wool; the pair I'm working on now are actually going to be for myself. Probably by the time I finish them, it will no longer be mitten weather... wait, do we even have non-mitten weather here? I forget what it's like.

i) The fact that I saw lots of signs like the one below in Austin.



j)Upcoming four day weekends!

k) The above weekend means that Lent will be over. I lented from celebrity gossip blogs, and I'll be able to go back to them I guess. Somedays I miss this guilty pleasure which I find appalling, so I'm hoping that 40 days without will have broken my habit.

k)Going out for coffee with Becca T to exchange little presents and stories from our recent travels (she to NYC, me to Texas).

And, since the girl just called, I'm off to meet up with her, thus ending this trifle of a post. I'm thinking I'm due for a deep post one of these days, but wait, have I ever had a deep post?? I'm unsure of that.

Anyhow, happy Easter and eat a lot of chocolate! :D

There ain't no party in the sad, sad city...

...is the Ghostland Observatory quote that came to mind as I sit here in my apartment thinking about how I have to go back to work tomorrow after a fantastic March Break.

I saw Ghostland Observatory play during my very brief post-SXSW jaunt to Dallas at the end of my trip. They are a super fun electro-rock band from Austin, and I think the above song is totally becoming my new party anthem. Dallas was fun, and I got to see a little bit extra of it this morning when I flew out. Turns out there are *two* Dallas airports, and I of course went to the wrong one to fly home. Thank goodness I tend to arrive for flights at crazy-early times, and had just enough time to call AlieMalie and say "I'm at the wrong airport" and have her get me and deposit me at the correct airport.

The fact that the Dallas airport snafu sorted itself out, gives me hope that the Air-Canada-"delaying"-my-bag snafu will also sort itself out. Yup. Hate when that happens. Mostly because it makes me think of all of the money I have tied up in the clothing/beauty products/shoes that I shove into my bag in order to cover all possible fashion bases while on vacay. It seemed like the bags of a lot of people on my flight also didn't make it to Toronto, so I don't feel so worried. But, the worst this is that my new green hi-top Chucks will not be able to be worn on St. Patrick's Day! Gah!!!!

Anyway, let's check off the things that were accomplished during this trip:

a) Fulfilled life-long dream of going to SXSW
b) Saw REM in a small venue
c) Fulfilled life-long dream of seeing The Weakerthans at SXSW. Now I just have to see them play *in Winnipeg* and maybe all of my life-long Weakerthans related dreams will be fulfilled.
d) Saw the Alamo. My mother says that my father will be pleased of this.
e) Scored three new Starbucks City Mugs (Austin, San Antonio, Dallas). All of them are validated by spending time in each city.
f) Fell in love with Austin Texas. Great food. Cupcake-mobiles. Bats. Bands. Great indie shopping. Music everywhere. What's not to love?
g) Got to spend time with an awesome blog buddy. :) Who'd have ever thought that starting this thing almost three years ago would ultimately result in me going to SXSW, and making awesome friends?
h) Saw Kimya Dawson perform "Loose Lips", my 2nd fave song from the Juno soundtrack.
i) Got to see a really small, really awesome Blue Rodeo concert with lots of random Canadians (and others) hopping up on stage.
j) Got a sunburn while participating in St. Patrick's day activities. Can't do that here.

Okay, however, sadly, March Break is at an end. *sigh* I have to wake up for work in 5 hours. Oh, there ain't no party in the sad, sad city for sure.

How I don't know how to sing...

Okay, here's a quick SXSW post.

First I LOVE SXSW!!!!!!! But, Was there any doubt that was going to happen?

Okay, after a smooth flight with a stopover in Dallas (I was also thoroughly impressed with the Dallas airport - there was the coolest shuttle between terminals), I arrived in Austin to BEAUTIFUL weather. I probably owe AlieMalie $10 'cuz I told her that I should pay her a quarter for every time I said "I'm in love with this weather".

Anyway, our first stop was food at the Magnolia Cafe, where we ran into none other but Michael Stipe. Of course, I insisted on being cool and not talking to him, but it was cool passing him as we were entering the restaurant.

Then, we wandered around Austin for a bit. In the evening, we bought our SXSW bracelets that let us into all of the shows. We made a game plan of shows that we wanted to see, and had our plan of attack. We figured we'd first start with where REM was playing that night, but I assumed that there was no way that we'd get in, hence we had several backup plans. Anyhow, apparently the Michael Stipe sighting earlier in the day had been a good omen and we got in! We were so close to the front that I could see Michael Stipe's facial expressions as he performed. It was such a great show. They mainly played new material, and from the sounds of it, the new album is going to be great. Anyhow, I can't believe that I saw REM in such a small venue!

Today, we did some shopping in the afternoon where I purchased a few of my favourite things: new Chucks, an Austin Starbucks mug, and a new hoodie. Then we headed back downtown to see more shows. Today I got to see Martha Wainwright, The Islands, Priscilla Aun, a crazy band called Man Man, and *drumroll* The Weakerthans!!!! We were three rows from the front and it was amazing. I can't believe that I got to fulfill my dream of going to SXSW. (I think I've wanted to go ever since I developed my current level of musical geekiness sometime in university.) But, not only that, I saw my favourite band perform!!!

Anyhow, I should get off this hotel computer, but suffice to say I have one more day of musical fun planned. Tomorrow I'm hoping to see Yo La Tengo, Kimya Dawson, Oh Susannah, and Blue Rodeo. Then it's off to Dallas for a day, and then *sob* back home.

Sooo, I suppose I'll blog again from the sad part of when the trip is done. But I'll add some great pictures then! Okay, but honest to goodness, if you are a fellow music geek, and I know most of you who read this are, you need need need need to go to SXSW someday. Just being here is awesome. You hear music everywhere you go. Ahhh! :D

F is my favourite letter as you know.

In a week from this moment, I'll probably be in super-excited overdrive mode since I'll be leaving for Austin and SXSW-fun at 7:15 the next morning. If there is one thing that I like about the fact that time flies much faster as you are older, it's that things that you are super-excited about approach much more quickly than they used to. I remember when I'd look forward to a concert or something when I was a teenager, and it would take *forever* to approach.

Anyhow, life is going swimmingly right now, especially since there are only 3 more teaching days until March Break. I'm totally in the mood right now to do a music post, since I love how certain songs become the soundtrack of times in my life, and how a year from now these songs will remind me of now, and bring back found memories, I'm sure. So here are 10 fabulous songs that are on heavy rotation on my iPod these days.

1) Get Home - Sarah Slean: This song was a free iTunes download a few weeks ago and it's absolutely gorgeous. It's one of those songs that although is a little bit sad, it just makes me happy because it makes my heart skip a beat because it's so pretty.

2) The Cheapest Key - Kathleen Edwards: She is totally one of my fave artists, and her new album came out today. I cheated by streaming songs from her website this week, so I know a lot of the songs already. This one totally rocks, and I walked by a record store today where they were blasting this song and it sounded so good. So much fun, and I think her album will be one of my faves from 2008.

3) Piano Blink (los manlicious mix) - Hawksley Workman: This song is quickly creeping its way up on my most played list. There are two mixes of this song on Hawksley's new album, and this one is incredibly awesome (the other one is only awesome). I'm seeing Hawksley on Saturday, and I hope he plays the song in the style of this mix.

4) Under the Blacklight - Rilo Kiley: I'd downloaded a couple tracks from this album months ago, and then as I was playing around with iTunes this weekend, I saw that I could complete my album for $5. So glad I did because I came across some really awesome tracks, like this one.

5) Not Tonight - Tegan and Sara: I love Tegan and Sara, but I only really know their last two albums. This came up on my friend's iPod while we were driving to NYC and I loved it and had to get it. It reminds me of the trip, and I just love singing along to it. As a result, getting into older Tegan and Sara is on my to-do list.

6) New York, New York - Ryan Adams: Someone sent this song to me post-NYC and it makes me think of NYC and makes me happy. I really liked NYC.

7) Fools Like Me - Lisa Loeb: Another song that came up on someone's iPod during the long drive to NYC that I have been listening to a lot since the trip. I like girly stuff like this.

8) My Favourite Game - The Cardigans: I've been listening a lot to old Cardigans singles for some reason lately. This song makes for a great workout song.

9) Nolita Fairytale - Vanessa Carleton: I always have a few guilty pleasures on the go, and I've been listening to this song a lot since I heard it one day while shopping in American Eagle Outfitters (another guilty pleasure). I pretty much like any song with the word fairytale in the title (see Tori Amos's A Sorta Fairytale), and I really like this. Something else girly to go with song #7 I suppose.

10) Trying to Pull Myself Away - Glen Hansard: I really like the Once soundtrack, and I especially like this song since it rocks. It might just be the least girly song on this list now that I scan the rest of the titles...

So, I guess my current listening habits are all about things that are girly and/or remind me of NYC. Hmmm, interesting. I guess even my watching habits fit with this theme. I just watched the first season of 30 Rock, which I now officially love, and it makes me happy with its NYC setting, and it is girly (TGS does stand for The Girlie Show). Anyway, 30 Rock is another addiction of mine these days. I think I'm going to rewatch the whole first season. :)

Raise your hand if you do what you're told.

One of my coworkers has organized an after-work yoga class on Tuesdays, and I got myself talked into joining. Last week was our first session, and I really enjoyed it despite the fact that before the class I was a slightly-skeptical yoga virgin. I'll admit that I felt the effects of the yoga in my weak shoulders and arms the day after, but I still really enjoyed it and felt super relaxed after the class. (Note: my favourite part is the last pose, called the corpse pose, where you just lie there on the mat. I like it because I like lying around, and the word corpse makes me think of my favourite movie: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride.)

Anyway, yesterday I missed the second class because I had gone on a field trip. I still brought my fashionable yoga gear to school just in case I made back in time, but I didn't. Today I heard that everyone was really sore from yesterday's class, so I'm a little bit scared of next week's class.

Since I had my clothes with me, I headed to the gym right after work. I walked home at about 6:30 pm, dreaming of making myself a warm and tasty dinner. As I approached my building, I noticed it was strangely dark, as were the buildings around it. I stumbled up the darkened stairs to my apartment, used the backlight on my iPod to help me locate candles, and gave my parents a call. Since they always watch the 6 pm Toronto news, I figured they would be a good substitute for the internet to find out what was up. They did not disappoint me, and it turns out that there was some sort of underground explosion that lead to a good portion of my street being without power.

Since making a nice warm dinner was out of the question, I decided to take myself out for some sushi, and to buy a flashlight. My sushi was delicious, and on my way to get a flashlight I stumbled across a super cute pair of black wedge heels that were on sale that I just had to buy. They'll forever be known to me as my power failure shoes. I was so excited by them that I *almost* forgot about the flashlight.

I love (note a little bit of sarcasm) that the power went out on a night where the temperature was dropping quickly, and I spent the night in my warmest pjs, huddled under blankets and using up the last battery power on my cell phone. I'm really enjoying my electricity this evening: I love that I can comfortably sit in my apartment wearing my favourite red tank top and think about how in two weeks from today, I'll be on March Break and I'll be in Texas where the weather will be much, much warmer. :)

On tap for this weekend: not leaving Toronto (after going to St.Ratford last weekend for my dad's bday and a packed social calendar, and of course NYC the weekend before), a bday dinner at a Moroccan restaurant with belly dancers, and a whole lot of relaxing or so I hope. Yay!

Hey world, you've been travelling far, I've been waiting by my guitar...

Holla for me now being in my mid-late-twenties. Man how those years creep up on you.

But... if my bday weekend is any indication of how my year of 28 is going to be, well, it's going to be fan-freaking-tastic. My weekend trip to New York was by far the best birthday I've ever had, and I'm a girl who had bowling and skating parties back in the day too. ;)

I'll be cliche and say I <3 NY. Going to New York City, and seeing a Broadway show, had always been a dream of mine since I was 10 years old or so, hence that made the trip even a little bit more exciting.

Anyhow, I went with three of my friends from work. I think I'm so lucky to have made such awesome friends at work. I honestly feel the kind of fun kindredness with my pals at work that I feel with my friends back from high school, and I find this amazing. I think I get this feeling because we have a penchant for partying, getting into a bit of trouble, gossiping, and taking fun road trips. That was my high school girlfriend experience, and it's cool to have that again with people in Toronto.

We had a boring pd day, and we high-tailed it out of school as fast as we could. The worst traffic we faced was actually getting out of Toronto; after that it was pretty smooth-sailing although the drive was long and pretty monotonous since it was at night. We stopped a couple of times along the way. We actually celebrated my bday at a McDonald's with a giant cookie that one of my pals baked for me. Again, that made me remember high school more, since we had more than a few birthday celebrations at McDonald's.

We finally got into the city at about 1 am, and arrived at our very very awesome hotel. We so scored on that one. It had a great location, and had just been newly renovated and decorated. Actually, the renovations were not quite finished, hence the fact we could afford such a great hotel.

The following days were filled with lots of walking around the city, shopping, exploring neat neighbourhoods, eating great food, and just laughing about crazy things. I loved just being in the city. It so felt like you were walking into any number of TV shows or movies. I guess since New York City is the setting for so many things, it has such a familiarity to anyone even if you've never visited before.

Probably my favourite part of the trip was when we took the F-Train over to Brooklyn and explored a neighbourhood called DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass). There is the best view of the skyline from a boardwalk here, and the neighbourhood itself was so cool. I'm such a neighbourhood girl; I have lots of faves here in Toronto too. I also loved Greenwich Village, which we explored a lot on the first day.

We saw the show Spring Awakening (which won the 2007 Tony Award for best musical). The music, performers, and production were all excellent, but I felt the show was lacking a storyline that I cared about. However, just seeing a Broadway show was fabulous. After the show, we walked around Times Square in the rain, and I scored an awesome new pair of Converse All-Stars. That was a great souvenir purchase, along with my traditional city Starbucks mug (which was actually the first purchase of the first day).

Anyway, the bday weekend in NYC was a great success. Now, it's only 3 more weeks 'til March Break and SXSW in Austin. Such awesomeness. Life is so great these days. :)

Falling slowly, eyes that know me, and I can't go back.

It had been snowing here for what seemed like forever, but today is sunny and beautiful; albeit windy and cold. I'll take the windy and the cold if I can have sun, thanks very much. Although really, the snow wasn't that bad; it made for some very picturesque scenes in the past few days. I don't mind waiting for the bus so much in the morning if there are big snowflakes falling down. However, my bus waits are never that long; I live on an awesome route. Anyhow, the sun makes me happy, and the cold keeps the snow from melting so that it's not all gross and slushy out and my feet stay dry.

Anyhow, the sunny morning actually turned me into a morning person today. Here it is before noon and I've already been to the gym and back and have run other errands. I'm so productive this morning that in fact, I could not buy the new knitting needles required to make my dad's birthday hat since the store wasn't open while I was going by on my way home from the gym.

I had a fabulous week. It was the start of the a new semester and I think I've got some good classes yet again. I had the worst classes in the world my first year at my school, so I think I've paid my dues and the gods of class composition have smiled upon me yet again. Since that first year, I have had some rather eccentric classes who have driven me crazy at times, but nothing like those first year classes. You could argue that perhaps that it is my teaching that has improved, which it has, but I still think if I got those classes from back in the day, they would drive me to use up all of my sick days for my mental health despite the experience I've gained.

In areas other than work, life's going well too. Becca T and I went to see the filming of The Hour with George Strombolopous one day this week, and that was cool. She was a bit worried that I might have a melt down since I've stated on occasion that I seldomly watch that show because I cannot focus during it due to the immense attractiveness of the host, but I averted any embarassing displays of affection and kept my cool.

Also this week, my Montreal/NYC buddies from work and I scored a really good deal on a hotel for next weekend. I am *so* excited for this trip; I can't believe it's only five days away!

I've been having a fairly low-key weekend. I went to see the movie Persoplis with a book club friend. We'd read the graphic novel that this movie is based upon a couple years ago. It's a really good movie; I'd definitely recommend it, as well as the book. I haven't read Persepolis II yet (which is covered in the movie), but I'll get to it someday.

Other than that, this weekend has been spent catching up on sleep (I never get enough during the week), getting some stuff organized, reading, and relaxing. I have no homework this weekend for the first weekend in what feels like forever and I love it. Usually by this time on Sunday, I'm mopey because I know my evening will be filled with planning, and marking, but not this weekend. It's fabulous not having that. I will enjoy it while I can.

So yay for low-key weekends. And yay for super-exciting weekends with trips!

It was like seeing the starry night for the very first time.

It's crazy how a week can make a huge difference in your life.

The week before the one that just passed, I was feeling like I was in a huge rut, hence the fact I was listening to Stars' song "Today Will Be Better, I swear" quite a bit.

The week that just passed gave me a reprieve from the rut I felt that I'd fallen into. It helped that it was exam week; during exam week, there are no regular classes, the kids just come in the morning to write their exams and then leave and I've got the rest of the afternoon to work. The pace of exam week is so much less hectic than a regular week, and that makes a girl have to listen to "Today Will Be Better, I Wwear" less often than she usually would.

One evening of last week involved me staying out far too late with some friends from work. It was a really really fun night, but I slept in as a result of it, and showed up to work a bit late. If there's one thing that I am, it's punctual, and this is the first time in the 13 or so years that I have been employed that I have actually made it to work late. Luckily, one of my friends covered for me, and I was able to sneak in with no one the wiser. And my friend who covered for me is so awesome that there was a cappuccino waiting for me on my desk. I got a really fun rush of irresponsibility (or was that just a hangover?) as I sneaked into the building.

And, I got to see the Weakerthans for free last night. It was fabulous.

And, I also started planning my March Break SXSW trip to Austin TX this weekend. I have my flights booked and it looks like I'll get to explore both Austin and Dallas while I'm in Texas.

And I found out tonight that the Weakerthans are playing a showcase while I'm in Austin, and I so hope that I'll be able to go to that!

And, the new Hawksley Workman CD is awesome.

And, my birthday trip to NYC is coming up quickly, and we've bought tickets to a broadway show.

And, I got to see the movie "Once", which was really good, and I'm going to borrow the soundtrack from a friend to put on my iPod.

And, there was a kickass snowstorm on Friday, which was OK because I did not have to make it to work at a specific time and a lot of people didn't even both to come in, so I got to hog the photocopier and get ready for the new semester.

And, I've had lots of time to spend with various enjoyable people in my life.

And, things are just awesome right now. Hmmmm, maybe I could almost delete "Today Will Be Better, I Swear" from my iPod, but it's always good to have it there on backup, and it's a great song even when it's not needed for therapeutic reasons.

Who could ask me for more?

Yay for relaxing yet productive Saturdays! I did not overly sleep in today, and got to the gym and ran some errands all before noon. I love getting that stuff out of the way.

One of the errands I had to run was picking up a package from the post office that I'd ordered from Amazon. It was a bunch of copies of the book "Jamaica Inn" by Daphne Du Maurier that is the next pick of my university-friends book club. Anyhow, I had ordered the cheapest copy of it that I could find, and I found one for $7 each. Anyhow, it arrived and I found out why it was cheap; it is actually a levelled-reader version of the book intended for middle school students. I laughed really really hard when I opened the box. I called Becca T, who is a member of said book club, and told her about and she suggested maybe we should read this version instead since maybe then that way, everyone would have time to finish it. Hee-hee. As a result of this mistake by me, (although I argue the fact that this is a kids' version is not stated explicitly anywhere in the book description) I've now ordered real copies, and now I have another errand to run because I have to send the books back.

Anyway, as a result of my earlier productivity in the day, I'll have some time to grab a yummy moccachino down the street and spend time reading. Tonight, I'm hanging out for Becca T for dinner and perhaps a movie, and then we're going to head downtown for a free concert (Tokyo Police Club). I'm not overly familiar with them, but it's free, so a good way to get introduced. It's outside, so I hope it remains fairly nice out like it's been earlier today.

Next weekend is the free Weakerthans show downtown, so I'm very excited for that. Then, I have my NYC trip to look forward to. (We haven't "officially" decided on NYC, but I'm pretty sure that's what we'll do.) So yay for happy things to look forward to. Definitely makes the huge pile of marking that I have to deal with this weekend less depressing, as the fact that I'll have to spend my week marking exams.

ps Last week was one of those weeks where I had to listen to the Stars' song "Today Will Be Better, I Swear" each and every morning. Have you ever had one of those?

I don't see what anyone can see in anyone else but you.

Last weekend was spent cleaning my apartment for my super belated housewarming party, buying snacks and beverages for said party, and then cleaning up after said party. The party was super fun and went well and I totally need to make sure that I throw more parties in the future, but this weekend feels so relaxing in comparison without having a party to plan for/clean up after.

Anyhow, this weekend has been great with lots of time to relax, walk around in the cold-but-sunny weather, and drink a lot of hot chocolate.

I bought the Juno soundtrack this weekend, and I've been listening to it incessantly. I saw the movie over the holidays and really enjoyed it, and enjoyed the music within the film, and I'm so glad that I got the soundtrack. It's a fun listen. I'd previously been constantly listening to the new Hayden album In Field & Town that came out this week. That album is also very strong as well. It might even be my favourite Hayden album as a whole.

I think I'm going to have to put myself on another spending diet. I think besides food, necessities, and the odd latte, and sushi only once a week, all I'm allowed to buy until my birthday in February is the new Hawklsey Workman CD that's out on the 29th. I say this because a) I generally spend too much money (hello new pair of jeans that I bought yesterday), and b) it looks like I have an exciting trip coming up for the February long weekend, which fortuitously coincides with my birthday. On Wednesday, some of my friends from work and I hatched a brilliant plan to either go to New York City or to Las Vegas that weekend. Anyhow, we're in the researching stage of this trip, and we are going to vote tomorrow whether to go to NYC and Vegas. I've never been to either place, but I'm really hoping that we end up going to NYC because it appeals to me more than Vegas, but heck, I'll go anywhere.

Now, I should stop procrastinating via blogging, and write a test for my period 2 class, so that I can go out for coffee this evening with Becca T. Enjoy the last few hours of weekend! :)

And tell me doctor can you quantify?

My plan for this evening was to come home, grab a Second Cup Moccachino, have my favourite comfort dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches with ketchup and roasted vegetable soup, and then write a bitter blog post about how I’m totally suffering from the winter blues, which I completely blame on the inevitable end-of-semester workload that is killing me. I did the first three items, but my bitterness had subsided. Was it the caffeine or was it the grilled cheese I wonder? Or maybe it’s the fact that the Stonecutters episode of the Simpsons is on and currently making me happy. So what do I blog about now since I’m feeling less crabby?

It has been on my mind that I have yet to do a top 10 albums of 2007 list like some of my other fellow music geek blog buddies (here and here – I hope they’re not mad at me for calling them music geeks; I use that term with the utmost of respect since I proudly consider myself a music geek). And thankfully, iTunes makes reviewing what albums you bought in particular year super easy. No more racking of the old brain.

And now, without further adieu, here is Christielli’s top 10 albums of 2007. I’m surprised that it didn’t take me until 2010 to do this with the levels of procrastination I’ve been facing in my life these days.

10) The Shade of Poison Trees – Dashboard Confessional: Dashboard is my musical equivalent of a grilled cheese sandwich with ketchup, and this album makes me feel warm and fuzzy. There’s just something about the earnest emolicious-ness of Dashboard Confessional, and they’re one of my favourite sing-along bands.
Fave Song: Where There’s Gold…

9) The Reminder – Feist: 1234 was probably the most ubiquitous song of 2007 that pretty much anyone would like. I actually bonded with my period 2 class (who are 90% male) over this song. However, one song does not an album make, and the rest of the songs on this album are great too.
Fave song: I want to not say 1234 and say “I Feel it All” instead, but if I was stuck on a desert island with one Feist song, I’d have to go with 1234.

8) American Doll Posse – Tori Amos: Tori created and inhabited five personas for this album. Clyde seems to be my favourite, but I’d hang out with any of the Dolls given the chance. When I saw her play this year, she brought out Pip, who is the rocker, and Tori (of course). I just love things that are creatively different, and this album is and it works. I love the opener, Yo George, which is such a great eff you to everyone’s favourite George. I understand that Tori isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but this album pleased every Tori-phile I know.
Fave song: Roosterspur Bridge (Clyde)

7) Nevertheless – Christine Fellows: This is the first of two highly-anticipated albums from Winnipeg musicians that I love. I love that this album starts out with a beautiful instrumental song that actually sounds Christmasy and made it onto this year’s Christmas playlist. I saw Christine Fellows play live twice within a month of this album’s release, and her music is the kind that expands when it is live, but it’s really good on disc too.
Fave song: Nevertheless

6) The Con – Tegan & Sara: I listen to the title track of this album constantly. It gives me more energy than a highly caffeinated beverage. The song Call It Off makes me feel wistful. I always listen to Hop a Plane when I’m taking the train back to where I came from. I love this band, and this album is great.
Fave song: The Con

5) Ashtray Rock – The Joel Plaskett Emergency: Sometimes I fear the concept album because I figure it will be too convoluted for my simple tastes, but when it centres around something non-pretentious such as a love triangle, it works very well. Even though I was not in a band in high school, and did not have such drama in my young life, I can identify with a lot of the themes on this album, and they bring me back to the shenanigans of my youth quite fondly. And, this is such a fun party album. If you can see this dude live, go, go, go. He is one of the best live acts in Canada.
Fave Song: Face of the Earth

4) Hospital Music – Matthew Good: I started listening to this album before its release when you could stream it through Good’s website. When I started doing this, I said to myself “Christielli, be careful, you’re going to wear it out and then be sick of it by the time you buy it.” Well, I think it’s a testament to the album that I did not grow sick of it after repeated listens, and it did keep me good company on my Edmonton to Vancouver train trip.
Fave song: She’s in it for the Money

3) Stars – In Our Bedroom After the War: So many of my favourite artists came out with new stuff in 2007. Stars released this album early on iTunes 4 days after its completion, which lead to me becoming overstimulated by its brilliance. Stars had a tough act to follow after Set Yourself on Fire, but In Our Bedroom did it. I’m only sad that I didn’t catch them live this year.
Fave song: Window Bird

2) Ongiara - Great Lake Swimmers: This album is breathtakingly beautiful and introduced me to a great musical find. I spent a whole day searching record stores in Toronto looking for this album after reading a glowing review of it, only to discover that it wasn’t out yet. Thankfully, I was able to buy it at zunior.com and I fell in love. A great bonus was I saw the band perform at a downtown church, which is the perfect venue for their sweeping symphonic sound. (Go alliteration!)
Fave song: I Became Awke (My girl Sarah Harmer does backup.)

1) Reunion Tour – The Weakerthans: I’m pretty sure that most people who have even a passing familiarity with yours truly would not be surprised that this is my top album. I eagerly anticipated this album since the 2003 release of Reconstruction Site. I got to preview a bunch of the songs live in June when I saw the Weakerthans play live in Hamilton, and I could tell then that I would have warm fuzzy feelings for this record. If you are looking for a wonderfully lyrical, melodic album with songs about a myriad of topics such as curling, cats, medical oddities, bus drivers, and the like, this is it.
Fave song: Reunion Tour

Honourable Mentions:
Marriage - Attack in Black: Definitely the best driving in Vancouver CD of the year.
Armchair Apocrypha - Andrew Bird: Best mention of mitosis in an album of 2007.
Do You Trust Your Friends - Such an interesting remix of one of my favourite albums ever. I especially dig Final Fantasy's version of "Your Ex-Lover is Dead".

Did you notice that 8/10 of my fave albums are by Canadians? I just did! Woo-hoo for Canadian music!

2008 is off to a strong start album-wise, or at least if my expectations hold out. The new Hayden comes out tomorrow, and I’m quite excited for that. Then, there’s new Hawksley Workman on January 29th. I’m especially excited for the new Hawksley, because I’ve heard a few of the songs and they’re all brilliant.

As the song in the iPod commercial goes, music is my boyfriend. :)

Parallelograms of light.

So 2008 is like flying already. I've been back at work for almost a week now, and I'm still in vacation mode. I have freakin' exams to write, piles of marking to do, a desk that needs to be cleaned since it looks like a bomb exploded on it, and a bajillion other things to do. Thankfully, I was able to get my brain whirring a bit today, and daresay it, get into a bit of a thinking groove. I'm going to buckle down this evening and get a lot of stuff done, I say.

But, when that final bell rings tomorrow, I get to move on to more pleasant things, at least for part of the weekend (a good portion of the weekend will be spent working). I've finally gotten my act together and planned my very first party in my new place, and I'm much looking forward to it. I find that I have a lot of friends who I only tend to see at parties now that we're "grown-ups". Or perhaps we were always like that, but there were way more parties going on, hence more hanging out. One of my good friends from university has decided to host a monthly dinner party this year, which I think is awesome idea. So now I'll be saying "Dude! I haven't seen you in forever!" a lot less.

All this thinking about parties and such has made me think about how lucky I've always been with the friends I have in my life. They all seriously rock. The only thing I'd change is the location of quite a few of them. I'd like to move my circle of friends from St. Ratford days (I've started to think of them as the St. Ratford contingent), to Toronto, and a bunch of people that I know from across the country, continent, and world out here too, so I could have this fabulous utopia with all of the people I enjoy. Of course, I wouldn't be able to have a party in my little old apartment then, but I'd be totally amenable to renting out a pub for my partying needs.

Anyhow, friends rock, and they're the best to have around whether it be for spontaneous sushi, coffee, and shopping evenings, counselling via Facebook, drunken text-messaging, Friday lunches at work and other workplace diversions, late night MSN conversations, or really late housewarming parties. Yay!

I can tell it's winter from the size of the lump in my throat.

Typically, I do some sort of year end post where I list what I enjoyed from the previous year. Instead, I've decided to sum up 2007 (albeit belatedly), using the year-end survey that's made the rounds.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? I moved into an apartment all by myself sans roommate.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? According to a post from December 2006, my new year’s resolution was “"Do one thing at a time and who the eff cares?” Did I keep it? I think so. I’ve kept my focus on certain things this year and I’m proud of myself for it. Did I stop worrying so much? Probably not, but I’ll worry about that later.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope, not this year.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Thank goodness no.

5. What countries did you visit? I stayed in Canada and the US, but going out west is a huge trip, I think. I covered a lot of Canada: Edmonton, Jasper, Vancouver and surrounding area, and Victoria. I did a mini-trip to Montreal too, which was cool because I had never properly visited that city. On the American side, I made it to Seattle, which was way cool, and I did a few cross-border shopping trips in NY and Michigan thanks to our kickass Canadian dollar.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? A few more romantic misadventures would be nice.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? July 14th because that’s the day I moved into my own place.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting my permanent contract at work. I’m now in it for life, I suppose.

9. What was your biggest failure? Failure schmailure!!!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing major besides the odd cold here and there.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Well, when you get to question #17, I’ll lament that I spent a lot of money in 2007. However, some of my favourite of the many purchases I made this year revolve around my beloved Weakerthans. I bought tickets to two Weakerthans shows (Hamilton in June, and Toronto in November), their fabulous new album Reunion Tour and two Tshirts from each concert. I also enjoyed buying the final Harry Potter book and Starbucks mugs from Vancouver, Seattle, and Montreal.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My parents, because they both are better after hard times in the last months of ’06 and beginning months of ’07. I’ve had pretty good classes this year too; so that’s definitely worth celebrating.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Oh gosh, it’d probably be a long list with the current state of the world. Ummm, I’ll just make it short and sweet and say GWB and Steven Harper; both dudes I’m not fans of. Oh yes, and I have a coworker whose behaviour is up there with GWB and SH when it comes to appalling me.

14. Where did most of your money go? What with the moving, new furniture and other apartment accoutrements, traveling, new clothes, concerts, CDs, books, and nights out, it definitely went.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? The last Harry Potter book, traveling out west, new Weakerthans album, and lots of concerts.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Lots and lots actually. The albums Hospital Music by Matt Good and Marriage by Attack in Black will remind me of my trip out west. Songs that will be forever associated with this year would be The Con by Tegan and Sara, 1234 by Feist, Roosterspur Bridge by Tori Amos, and Civil Twilight by the Weakerthans.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner
c) richer or poorer? As I mentioned in questions 11 and 14, a lot of stuff was purchased, so I’m poorer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Spending time with friends. I need to make an effort to get together with old friends outside of parties ‘n such.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Fretting over little details.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? I spent Christmas in St. Ratford hanging out with friends and family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007? Nope.

22. How many one-night stands? None.

23. What was your favorite TV program? The Office.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Nope, really there is only one person currently in my life that I strongly dislike, and I’ve disliked this dude for awhile.

25. What was the best book you read? Sex with the Queen by Eleanor Herman. Before you jump to any conclusions, I’ll let you know that it’s a history book that covers the romantic misadventures of Queens through history. It was dishy and educational and fun.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? The band Great Lake Swimmers. I listen to them a lot, and saw them play once in 2007 too. I was unfamiliar with them before 2007.

27. What did you want and get? A nice apartment.

28. What did you want and not get? Perhaps more romantic misadventures? (Maybe I have been badly influenced by reading about all of the action those queens were getting.)

29. What was your favorite film of this year? Sweeney Todd!!!!! Oh, and I really enjoyed Harry Potter #5.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 27, and I spent it at work, and then watching the new episode of the Office while eating dinner with my now former roommate and my dear pal Becca T.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Perhaps more romantic misadventures?

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? I had a student tell me that my outfits are cool and well put together. So I’ll quote her.

33. What kept you sane? Honestly, the students at my school surprisingly keep me sane, even though sometimes they do the opposite. But daily, they help me remember what really is important in life, and also make me chuckle too. Awww, that *almost* makes me want to go back to work on Monday.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Jim Halpert from the Office and Peter Petrelli from Heroes. (Not the actors, but the specific actors *in character* is what I fancy).

35. What political issue stirred you the most? The environment and human rights.

36. Who did you miss? My friend Alison who is teaching in Japan and a few other friends who are working overseas.

37. Who was the best new person you met? I really didn’t meet anyone *new* that I care about. I did meet several blog buddies *in person* for the first time, but I’ve been reading their blogs for ages, so are they really new??? However, I feel that some friendships really grew in 2007, and that’s definitely awesome.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007: I'm stronger than I think I am.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: A few lines from the song "When It Flows" by Great Lake Swimmers have kept me grounded this year:
"Because everything is the way it is
And everything is perfect in their imperfections
And everything is placed the best
And it is now, and it is here
And tomorrow is another now
Waiting to happen "

Anyhow, I guess that summarizes 2007 in a nutshell. I had a good new year's eve, and so far 2008's treated me well since I'm still on holidays (until Monday creeps around). I'm back in Toronto and enjoying just chilling for a few days before the inevitable return to the daily grind.

Hope 2008 kicks ass for you all! :D

I'm starting to fashion an idea in my head...

So now I'm writing from a holiday that's half-over, or, in an more optimistic manner, perhaps I should say I have half of it left to go.

Christmas was fabulous. The pre-Christmas days in St. Ratford were spent going to holiday parties where I saw almost everyone that I wanted to. (There's only one person left on my list.) Christmas itself was pleasant and relaxing. I've spent the days since doing some shopping, reading, knitting, and hanging out with friends. Today I saw the movie Sweeney Todd, which was totally awesome, and totally lived up to the high expectations that I had of it. My inner goth is so happy right now.

New Year's is sneaking up on me. I've never been a fan of New Year's Eve; I have this internal wish to be doing something totally amazing on this night, and I never do. A typical year involves me usually just laying low with other anti-new-year's friends, or doing something that I hoped would be good, but ends up sucking. I've had the odd good evening; but the lame have outnumbered the good by far, so I tend to not look forward to the evening of Dec. 31st, especially since it does signify that my holidays are coming to an end.

However, I am optimistic about 2008. I have a feeling it's going to be a good year. This sounds corny, but I do think something special is going to happen this year. I don't what it will be; but I do have a warm fuzzy feeling for the upcoming year. 2007 was a good year for me: I traveled, moved into a great new apartment, met cool new people, and was happy professionally and personally. However, I feel that 2008 is going to have some sort of extra cherry on top. Maybe these are just the crazy ramblings of someone who has been eating a bit too much Christmas chocolate, but I'm happy giving them credence.

New year's resolution?? I have my old standby of going to more concerts. I also want to throw more parties this year; I'm going to have a much belated housewarming party on January 12th. I'm nothing if not serious about my resolutions.

Happy 2008! :D

The kids all holler carols 'cross the water, stars that shine.

I can't believe the last week before holidays is dunzo. It went by in such a blur. It seems like it was just Sunday night a nanosecond ago and I was frantically catching up on work wondering if it would ever end. Now here it is, the end of the week, and I've made it.

It was a good week though. I managed to finish my Christmas shopping and knock a lot of things off my to-do list. I also caught some nasty virus which should have kept me home and in bed, but I didn't have time for such nonsense, so I ignored it and went about with my insanity, despite the fact I was losing my voice. (Although one of my friends commented she preferred the raspy-voice version of me.) However, after a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios this morning, I realized I was over the worst of it and I felt that I was back on track. Moral of the story: Honey Nut Cheerios are a miracle cure.

I spent this evening catching up on some household chores type things and getting ready for going home for the holidays. Tomorrow night is my annual Christmas get-together with my friends from high school. I believe it might just be the tenth time we've done such a thing. It's always such a blast, and it has become the holiday tradition that I look forward to the most.

I should get myself to bed so I can be up in time to catch my morning train. Happy Holidays!

Claire Fontaine you seem to bring the best out of me and the things I write to sing.

It's so nice to be all warm and inside during a big storm, don't you think? In fact, I'm all for storms hitting on the weekends, as long as they don't interfere with any plans I have. There's a storm that hit Toronto tonight and is supposed to last for tomorrow as well, and it suits me fine.

So far I've had a really good weekend. On Friday night, I went to see one of my favourite musicians, Christine Fellows, play at a really unique location: a small old church in the middle of the downtown core. It was really pretty and sounded amazing, and I enjoyed it a lot. She opened with my very favourite Christine Fellows song, Souvenirs, and every other song was excellent too. The only drawback: my butt was sore from the church pews after sitting on them for about 2.5 hrs.

Today was a super fun day, even though it started with me cleaning up the disaster zone that was my apartment (yay for having a clean apartment now). I had my annual tradition of exchanging of gifts with a couple of friends from university. I got some really good stuff like Jack and Sally (from Nightmare Before Christmas) figurines (or should I call them action figures?), photo albums, a crochet book (called "The Happy Hooker" LOL), a fun Starbucks mug for hot chocolate, and a stuffed Starbucks penguin that I've decided to re-christen as a duck. We also have an annual tradition of having dinner at Swiss Chalet. Mmmmm Swiss Chalet.

This evening, I saw the movie "Lars and the Real Girl" and it was very good and very different. I would definitely recommend it if you like quirky movies, since it is simply quirktastic.

Tomorrow I am going to venture out in the storm to go for sushi with a couple of friends, and relax and maybe knit a bit. My next project is a pair of socks, and they are going to take forever to knit because I'm using a really fine wool and small needles, and I have to knit two of them of course. I don't know about this project, but I'm going to try to commit to it, because I spent $10 on the wool.

Hijack a snowplow! Clear out the streets!

Long time no post, I know. Good news is that I just finished knitting my first pair of mittens tonight! :D



What else has been going on? Well, on Friday night I went to my work Christmas party. It was fun. I especially enjoyed going out to a bar on College St. after the party with some various coworkers.

On Saturday, I caught the musical Sweeny Todd, which was nearing its one month engagement in Toronto. I loved it, and it made me so incredibly excited for the upcoming Tim Burton/Johnny Depp version coming out soon.

Anyway, now I'm over the hump of another week of school. Only 6 more teaching days to go until vacation. I find that this semester has perhaps tired me out a bit, despite the fact that I have really good classes. Today I was talking to a colleague about the fact that I've had problems finishing books since September, and he suggested it was because of fatigue. This could also explain my lack of blogging as well. I'm not sure if it's tiredness; I don't think I'm more tired than I was in the past, but I just have a few different things on my plate that I didn't in the past, and maybe less time for reading and blogging.

Hopefully I'll be able to increase the amount of reading and blogging over Christmas vacay. I just want to spend a fairly quiet two weeks of reading and perhaps knitting another couple of pairs of mittens (it's so addictive and so much more interesting than knitting scarves!).

I've got a fun weekend coming up though, providing that I make it through the week. Becca T and I are going a Christine Fellows CD release party on Friday. On Saturday, I'm having my annual Christmas get together with a couple of friends from university. Then, on Sunday, I have a sushi lunch lined up. Sometime in between all of this I need to catch up on my marking and clean my apartment.

I got the Sufjan Stevens Christmas boxset. I love it. At least my attention span for music has not wavered. When I can no longer pay attention to music, then I'll worry.

These are a few of my favourite things...

...as of today...

1) Christmas cookie scented tea lights that I got at the Superstore for $3. Makes my place smell like I've been baking which, of course, I have not been.

2) Reese's Puffs Cereal - oh so sugary goodness. Definitely the peanut butter equivalent of Calvin's sugar-coated chocolate bombs. I'm not allowed to buy a box of them for at least another week (don't want to develop a nasty habit), but they are a wonderful thing.

3) Sarah Harmer - she is my singer du jour.

4) Second Cup Moccachinos - I'm cheating on Starbucks, but I'm really into these things lately.

5) Finding the perfect gift - my present box in the corner of my bedroom is overflowing with them at the moment

6) Finding a new dress for $25 for Friday's work Christmas party - it's fun, it's purple, and it means I won't have to go with my dull back up dress.

7) Bus rides when they're not crowded - especially when it's cold outside and the bus is super warm.

8) Becca T's thought-provoking "So what do you guys think of the cover artwork?" question when 3/5ths of the book club had not read the book. Everyone could contribute to that.

9) Christmas lights - they're not out in full force yet, but they make the fact that we have barely any more daylight left these days a bit more bearable.

10) The kids at my school - they always make my day somehow. Today it was the fact that a bunch of them were absolutely impressed and fascinated by a finished mitten that I made while I was showing it to a another co-worker/knitter. Their comments made me smile.

ps I'd take a picture of that one fabulously finished mitten, but I'll wait 'til I have the pair completed. I'd feel that a picture of a single solitary mitt could quite possible be a dreary forewarning of a hand injury of some sort - a la Buster in Arrested Development.

Crosswords hidden in the landscape...

I feel that I am falling behind in everything. Schoolwork, reading for book clubs, Christmas cards, Christmas shopping, cleaning, socializing, everything. I have a to-do list that seems to grow daily.

So what have I been doing?

Knitting while watching music videos.

Yesterday, the fates decided that I was going to make giant strides forward in realizing one of my life-long goals: learning to knit mittens.

I had decided that after work, I'd stop by the Starbucks in Indigo, treat myself to a biscotti and latte, and start the book that I should have read by Saturday. I read for a bit, then decided that I'd browse around the store. On the bargain book table, I came across a book on knitting. I skimmed through it and noticed a pattern for mittens. I looked over it, and realized that it required skills that I didn't have. But, said skills were explained elsewhere in the book and looked possible. I got excited, bought the book, and proceeded to the craft store and acquired the new needles that I needed to knit mittens. Whenever I start a new project, I always have to buy some new yarn, so I got some fun blue yarn.

I raced home in the cold, and kerplunked on the couch with my new supplies and book. I started to teach myself how to knit in the round on double-pointed needles, and by the end of the evening, I had almost a whole cuff completed. I also listened to a good portion of MuchMusic's list of top 100 videos. I can't believe they were actually showing videos. I thought they'd abandoned those.

This evening I got a lot more of my first mitten finished while watching Ugly Betty, the Office, and more music videos. Here's a picture of my progress.



So, in summary, maybe I am behind in all of the everyday trivialities of life, but in the meantime, I am in the process of checking off a thing on my lifelong to-do list, so I guess that puts me ahead of things after all.

Turn off your headlights and go slowly, I don't want it to let up.

Quick post.

Montreal was lots of fun. I like the city. I got my Starbucks mug. I ate great food (mmmm poutine!), did some shopping (got some super cute shoes), and bonded with my coworkers/friends. It was a great weekend.

This week was busy, hence lack of posting. Parent-teacher interviews, professional development, and the like. We also got our first snow storm.

This weekend, my friend Wendy from high school is visiting and we're starting our Christmas shopping.

Will write a better post and catch up on blog-reading in the near future.

Oh great intentions, I've got the best of interventions.

I was just sitting on my couch, crocheting a red and white candy cane striped scarf for myself, when I realized that I haven't posted in quite awhile. I've been busy with quite a few ventures, like learning how to crochet, so the old blog has been neglected. This neglection (not a word, but I'll use it) has been furthered by the fact that it is report card season, so much of this evening prior to crocheting was spent marking and typing in comments.

This weekend I'm travelling to Montreal with some coworkers, so it promises to be a fun time. I'll be in the middle of packing madness tomorrow night oh what will I wear?) since we will be leaving at the bell, so I realized that there definitely would not be time to update the old blog then.

I'm looking forward to my trip. The odd thing, and there always is an odd thing with me, is that right now the only part of this trip I've really thought about is that fact that I must get to Starbucks to get a Starbucks Montreal mug to add to my collection.

Proud and strange and so hopelessly hopeful.

Le sigh. What an amazing show last night. Not that I ever suspected anything less.

The show I'm referring to, of course, was the Weakerthans with Jenn Grant and *Christine Fellows* at the Phoenix. It's been over 2 years since I last saw the Weakerthans play in Toronto, and I'm glad that long spell is over. After chatting with various people, and reading reviews of the show, it seems to be the general consensus that the Weakerthans have really developed into such a dynamic live band with a high energy show. I totally concur, which makes me ponder how awesome is the existence of a band with such strong songwriting and a great live show.

Anyhow, my dear friend Becca T was able to go to the show with me, even though there was a early scare that she wouldn't be able to attend because of a work-related commitment. Thankfully she was able to get out of that. We met up early for a sushi dinner (quelle surprise) and discussion of what merchandise we were going to buy, what songs we wanted to hear, and how psyched we were that another favourite artist of ours, Christine Fellows, was opening.

We got to the show sufficiently early enough to purchase some stuff (a curling-related Weakerthans t-shirt and the new Christine Fellows CD for me), and stake out a really good spot very close to the stage. Our spot afforded us such a great view; there have been times I've been at the Phoenix and haven't been able to see very well at all, but last night was great.

Christine Fellows came on first (I owe Becca T a coffee because I did not recognize her with a different hair colour). She only played new stuff. It was all highly enjoyable and well performed, but I was really hoping to hear "Souvenirs" live. But, no worries, because she has a December 14th show here that Becca T and I will definitely attend.

The second opening act, Jenn Grant, was perfectly cromulent. Ron Sexsmith made a guest appearance during one number. Of course, I must admit that I was too excited for my favourite band of all-time to play to really fully pay attention.

I felt like that Weakerthans have entered a new phase of their evolution with this show. They now have lights and don't have to set up their own equipment like the old days. Jim Bryson also played with them. They opened with Psalm for the Elks' Lodge Last Call. The entire set was amazing. I even enjoyed the song "History for the Defeated" which is my least favourite Weakerthans song. The song opens with the line "There's blood in the sink, he's plunging his wrists in." I find this line so graphic and disturbing that I cannot listen to it comfortably. For this reason, I don't even have that song on my iPod. Anyhow, it was the first time I have seen it live, I think, and it was well-performed, of course, but it won't be making its way on to my iPod anytime in the near future.

I was very psyched that they played my very favourite song of all time, "Reconstruction Site", because they hadn't played it when I saw them in Hamilton in June. Another highlight for me was "Manifest" because I like the trumpet in that song. I enjoyed "Benediction" as well, because Christine Fellows came on to sing the Sarah Harmer vocals. Highly enjoyable. My only *slight* disappointment was that they didn't play "Reunion Tour" which is my favourite song from the new album.

I didn't bring my camera to the show because it takes crappy live pictures, and I get distracted when I try to take picture and I'm happier without it. Below is a picture of John K Samson from the Chart Magazine review of the show.


Anyhow, yay for concerts and I'm so excited to see them again in Toronto sometime soon.

A shadow of me in the moon, well, I was in a movie in my head...

I feel like I haven't had a quiet night at home like I'm having right now in awhile. I had thought that I had plans to watch Heroes with Becca T, but she has to work, so I'm taping it and saving it to watch it later. It's much more fun to watch Heroes with my Heroes buddy.

Since I'd thought I'd be busy tonight, I didn't bother bringing any work home (I'll pay for that tomorrow), so I've been sitting around, drinking tea, listening to music, and reading. I think I may finally finish my first book since September. I've started about 5 or 6, but I keep losing interest fast.

I had quite a nice weekend. I spent Friday night helping Claire say goodbye to Toronto. We went out for drinks on Queen St. and had quite a good time. She was kind enough to bring me a copy of this week's Eye Magazine, which she had noticed had my beloved Weakerthans on the cover. I get to see them this Thursday!! And, from the article, I learned that *Christine Fellows* will be opening for them and she is also coming out with a new album tomorrow (it was reviewed well). I am very excited to purchase it tomorrow so that I can listen to it in preparation for this week's show. Oh, and I'm expanding my spending allowance to one Weakerthans Tshirt and perhaps a Christine Fellows' Tshirt too. Woo-hoo!

I had to wake up quite early the next morning because I was catching a ride home with a friend. I spent a quite weekend in Stratford; my only social activity was going out for a beverage with a couple of friends.

I also spent some time hanging out with my parents. We watched "Reign Over Me" (a serious Adam Sandler movie), which I enjoyed overall. I also skunked my dad in a game of cribbage, which always makes me happy.

Tomorrow I start my crochet course, which makes me happy. I like being crafty. Then, I'll just be in count-down to Weakerthans mode for a couple of days. Expect a review post soon after the show!

Thought it was a good solution hanging with the raisin girls...

Wow, it's been a busy week since my last blog post. First of all, I met up with three fellow bloggers (Claire, AlieMalie, and Scott) on Friday night for a tri-nation blogger summit (or so I decided to christen it). It was super fun. AlieMalie and Claire were both visiting Toronto at the same time, so they met up with me at the Portuguese bakery near my work, where I so smoothly ordered a lovely pastry that tasted like ice cream by saying "can I have the round chocolate thing?"

Following pastries, AlieMalie bravely drove us across the city to my place which something I won't even do, as you probably know that I'm an infamously nervous city driver as other bloggers will confirm. Then after a quick stop at my place to drop off stuff, we proceeded to tour Toronto via TTC and foot during which we stopped for drinks and food and some of my fave haunts.

Anyhow, it was totally fun meeting some bloggers in real-life. I'm pretty new to the whole meeting bloggers in real-life thing, but from the four I've now met, I've found that they end up being very close to what you'd expect from their blogs. And, I think, I end up being the way I seem here. So, I guess blogs are pretty good representations of people, or at least the people whose blogs I read.

On Sunday, I met up with my some of my university friends with whom I have a book club which has been on hiatus for about a year. We picked our next selection (Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen) and purchased it since we met at Indigo. So now I have that to read, in addition to Love in the Time of Cholera for my staff book club. Hopefully, I'll get back into reading mode, because I have not been able to finish a book since I finished Middlesex in September. I've started many, but I seem to have the attention span of a goldfish these days.

I'm quite excited for Halloween tomorrow. Typically, I never get myself organized enough to dress up for the occasion, but last night I picked up the necessities for a good witch costume, including black nail polish (which I'm wearing now - I feel so goth!), and sparkly fake eyelashes. I'm sure the kids will take me seriously in that getup while I'm trying to teach. If I have to get anyone in trouble, I'll probably feel a bit like Michael from the Office firing someone on Halloween.

Anyhow, things to look forward to in the coming week or so include going out for drinks with my coworkers while we're still decked out in our costumes, going to St. Ratford for part of this weekend since I can score a free ride one way, starting a crochet class with one of my coworkers (I'm branching out from knitting!), and, most importantly, the Weakerthans' concert next Thursday. :D

Like a good book I can't put this day back.

An awesome night on a school night is a great way to put work and life into perspective, and to highlight the importance of a good meal, a good friend, and a good concert to one's mental health and spirit.

Last night I went to see Tori Amos with my friend Eric, with whom I always go to Tori Amos concerts. We both left our jobs earlier than usual so that we could have a nice leisurely dinner before the concert and catch up and chat. My friend Eric is someone who always knows the best restaurants, so we went to a French Bistro that was new to me; where I had a great meal and where we shared a bottle of wine.

The concert itself was amazing. I really like the Hummingbird Centre as a venue. It's been re-christened as the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, but I always like calling places by their pre-corporate sponsorship names. Anyhow, the opening artist was quite good, but I didn't catch his name, and he mentioned that he doesn't have material available in North America anyhow. I'm sure that will change and I'll do some detective work to find out who he was so I can get some of his work.

Tori was amazing, as always. She had a full band with her for most of the concert which I love. She's great with a just a piano, but I tend to like any artist better with a band because I just love the extra energy and sound. For the first part of the concert she was dressed up as Pip, one of her American Doll Posse alter-egos. For the rest of the concert she returned as Tori, and played just with her piano for a few songs. Highlights for me were the songs Bliss, Waitress, Space Dog, Spark, Winter, A Sorta Fairytale, and Precious Things. Okay, so really practically every song was a highlight. Oh, and I also really enjoyed her improvised song which was about her realizing that her 7-year daughter might be smarter than she is while they were in Indigo looking at books. Another highlight was seeing my quite-refined friend Eric hollering like a beer-hoister during the concert and then teasing him afterwards.

I managed to not spend a lot of money on merchandise, as per my new spending diet. I did pick up a set of buttons, but I figure that's negligible. I did avoid buying the fun "I believe in peace bitch" canvas bag, since I do already own a Tori bag, and I couldn't carry that one to school, could I?

Perhaps what I love the most about Tori's current tour is that she is selling bootlegs of her concerts online mere hours after the shows. I just downloaded last night's show tonight, and I'm listening to it and enjoying it so much. What an awesome idea. The album also comes with pictures and CD artwork. How incredibly cool. This is one of the times that I love love love technology.



Anyhow, now that that exciting event is over, I'm next looking forward to blog-related visitors this weekend. Woo-hoo!

Maybe heart and fist and human voice might be the better way...

Musings from this weekend:

1) I am going on a spending diet. I've hereby decided that I am buying no non-essentials (ie random CDs/albums, books, clothes, DVDs, jewelery, shoes, etc.) for the next month. The only purchases I'm allowed, besides food and essential toiletries (which do not include sparkley eyeshadows, lipglosses, etc. since I have a bajillion of them), are some tights so I can wear skirts in colder weather and a Weakerthans Tshirt at the upcoming concert. That's it.

This spending diet was spurred by the fact that I ended up buying several random items in the past few days. On Thursday, I was at a different school for a day of workshops and I decided to walk home from that school which meant I had to walk down Yonge from Lawrence to Eglinton. This is a dangerous stretch of Yonge for me because there are a lot of nifty stores and one had a cute hoodie on sale that had birds on it. I love birds and had to have it.

On Friday, a coworker invited me to drop by the Eaton Centre with her after work and I ended up with new jeans, a new Tshirt, and new earrings.

Today, I had to go back to the above mall so I could exchange the Tshirt 'cuz I bought the wrong size. (You would think that someone who shops as much as I do would be capable of buying something in the right size.) This ended up with me wandering around the mall and coming out with a brand new sweater that I rationalized was necessary for work.

Anyhow, no more of this nonsense. No shopping 'til my November trip to Montreal!

(Note: I do notice that as my pile of dirty laundry increases as does my notion that I have nothing to wear. Right now I really badly need to do laundry and I'm shopping a lot. Coincidence, I think not!)

2) I have decided to not resubscribe to Chart magazine when my current subscription is up (not 'til next Sept so there's still awhile). This is the Canadian music magazine that I have been reading forever, but they have thrice offended me in the past few months. The offences were:

a) a bitter review of the new Matt Good album.

b) an even more bitter review of the new Weakerthans album. It offended me so much to my inner soul that I've blocked most of it out of my memory but I do believe the words "lazy" and "cobbled-together" were used in said review. In reference to MY favourite band. Oh no, they didn't. But they did.

c) A cheap shot at Hawksley Workman in the review of Bend Sinister's latest. The reviewer said, and I paraphrase, that Bend Sinister sounds like how Hawksley used to sound before he got wussy after his first album. This makes me angry for a reason besides the fact that the reviewer insulted my dear Hawksley. I think the reviewer thinks that Lover/Fighter was Hawksley's first album (it was his third), and he got "wussy" with Treeful of Starling. But, in fact, (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves is Hawksley's second album, and I don't how anyone in their right mind can accuse that album of being wussy.

So, from these three offenses, I've learned that this magazine is becoming more irrelevant to me and that the writers must not have a good handle on the musical catalogues of certain artists that I consider important. I think I'm going to rely on Now Magazine and Eye Weekly (which are free, and weekly) for my music needs. They gave the new Weakerthans stellar reviews, which shows good taste.

3) I love Toronto in the fall.

4) Becca T and I finished season 1 of Heroes and are now catchy up on the episodes of season 2 that I've taped. I do enjoy that Peter Petrelli.

5) I'm so excited for visitors next weekend!

6) I love when I solve a problem that's been bugging me. More than a month ago, my friend with an SUV took me to Ikea to get some furniture (most of which is still unassembled... shh...). There was a loveseat I wanted, but they were out of stock of the cushions, so I decided to pick up the frame and get the cushions at a later time, since I could just bring them home in a car. Well, they've been out of the cushions forever. Today, I got the bright idea of maybe I could order them over the phone, and I did, so I should have my cushions via Canada Post in 6-10 days, and then maybe that will spur me to assemble the rest of the furniture. Anyhow, I felt very happy when I got this issue solved.

7) I was so well-behaved tonight and finished all of the work that I brought home over the weekend. That hasn't happened since, well, never?

8) I really suck at Scrabble. There's a new Facebook application called Scrabulous, and I'm currently playing 4 scrabble games on there and losing all of them. I have a good vocabulary, I'm good at word puzzles, and I'm pretty logically-minded, but I just don't have the patience with Scrabble. I think of a couple options and just plunk the best one on the board. Maybe it's just that my tiles (in all four games) are really really really sucking. Yah, that's it. It's the tiles.

So, this upcoming week promises to be fun. I've got my Tori Amos concert on Tuesday, a PD day on Friday, and fun visitors arriving. Woo-hoo! Enjoy your weeks!