Friday, July 27, 2007

Tagged =)

I was tagged by Brianne.
So, I'm going to try to do this (and not sound boring). Here goes nothing!

The Rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The game rules are posted at the beginning of the post. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment to let them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. My first habit I'd like to mention (cause on this blog, I have no shame!) is checking behind closed shower curtains before I sit down on the toilet or brush my teeth. I'm paranoid, and if anyone was going to get attacked by some creepy dude hiding in the shower, it would definitly be me. As a sidenote: I have no freakin clue what I would do if there ever was somebody in there. I'd probably freeze and get attacked...but it's better knowing!

2. I have a mentos addiction. Every Thursday night while at the bar for pool, I eat at least 2 packs of mentos (sometimes more!). I eat them all within 120 seconds of opening the package, so if you want one, you have to be forceful. I have also been known to eat mentos belonging to other people (Mama Dukes) if they are left on the table too long. But only Thursdays. A girl has to have limits!

3. I misplace things. Not just once in a while like normal people, but all the time. It could be as quickly as using a brush and then putting it down and not being able to remember where it is when I go to pick it up 4 seconds later. I sometimes decide to put things into a "safe" place and then forget where that place is. Take for example my house keys. I moved them when we went to Quebec, cause I wasn't home and would need them. But then I couldnt find them for weeks. I finally got new keys cut, but they didn't have a keychain. So I went to put them in the side pocket of my purse, only to see my old housekey safe and sound. The funny part: my purse only has 3 pockets, and none of them are big....

4. I worry. It's a habbit in my oppinion. I think too much about how other people are thinking, or how they'll react to something. Then I worry unnecessarily (sometimes) about it. I am trying to break this habit. But it means people aren't always happy with me. I have a hard time when people dont think I'm perfect...

5. Fun fact #5 is that I don't like swimming. I don't do it well, and I sometimes feel like if I was left to my own devices in a large body of water, I would die. I would either worry so much that I would give up, or I wouldn't be able to keep myself above water. This makes activities like white water rafting absolutly out of the question. Life jacket or not!

6. I like white. I like when things are off-white or shades of white because it makes me feel clean. I think I get bored of colours too quickly, and I can just imagine how much bacteria can hide in blue fabric, or on black countertops. My house will potentially be an asylum, or resemble a surgery room.

7. I attract crazy people. Enough said (remember the paranoid thing...)

8. I eat when I'm bored, or when I have to sit for a long time, or when I'm happy, or sad, or cranky. I eat when I'm PMSing, and when I celebrate, or when I just feel like a break...In other words, I love food. I'll almost never turn down food. Oh and another habit...eating everything on my plate. I sometimes also eat the garnish. Like last night when I munched on the carrot and cucumber garnish on my spring roll plate. Oh me...

I am going to tag Mama Dukes, Mark (cause he never blogs anymore), Kate, Colleen, and whoever else reads this thing. Feel free to send an email if you don't have a blog. I really like seeing into other people's lives (another fun fact about me!).




Thursday, July 19, 2007

Quebec

So this post comes under pressure, because really none of us want to take the time to blog it, but all of us promised we would. So here goes nothing! (Warning it might be a bit long because it was a 5 day trip with hundeds of pictures to choose from). I'll start with classic quotes because we (Jenny in particular) are amusing.

Jen: “I wish I brought my squishy” – exactly 45 seconds after leaving the house (squishy is a stuffed animal thing)

Jen “I brought baby powder”

Aimee: “why?”

Mom: “Us fat people need to put it under our boobs”

Bri: “My bra holds mine up”

Mom: “Well we don’t put the bottle under our boobs!”

Jen: “Haha, we just passed choda road”

Mom: “What’s a choda?”

Jen: “The piece of skin between a guys asshole and his balls”

Aimee: “Well you asked…”

Jen: “It was like a mini geyser in my mouth!” – in reference to throwing up a little in her mouth

Most often muttered phrase (by everyone): “fuckin quebecois…”



DAY 1: A Long drive completed entirely by mama dukes even though there were two other licenced and willing drivers. Some fun and games (Buzzword etc.), singing along to 80's classics, homemade egg salad sandwiches. We get to the Delta Hotel downtown Quebec. It's raining and crappy outside. We let the valet take our van even though we didn't get all of our stuff out. We thought we could just go back to the parking, but they take the keys. They fetch it for you every time. Silly us. So we go to the front desk to check in, only to find out we don't have a room until the next night. Now it's some art festival thing in Quebec this week, so we panick, but we end up getting a room, and we unpack. We order pizza (because we didn't want to wander in the rain), and watch 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' until each and every one of us falls asleep before 10pm.

DAY2: We wake up, set up mom's booth for work (this was a work trip first and foremost for her). We get stuck in the conference center. We can't find an exit that will let us out without sounding an alarm. Mom gets pissed while we all laugh. This was also a common pattern throughout the trip :)
So we wander down the hilly (freakin hilly!!) streets and find a little cafe called L'Oeuforie. We all order delicious fantastic Frenchie Brunch. For me, this meant creps (which were a first for me!) with strawberries and bananas and white chocolate sauce.
The other girls all order an assortment of eggs, french toast, beans, creton (French Pork pate, ie. barf), etc. All of which was enjoyed until Mama Dukes goes to put her egg onto her toast. She misses. She drops the ketchup covered egg (runny yolk and all!) all down the front of her shirt, and it drops under the table. We all laugh, except mom. She's ready to cry. Her day is ruined! She's pissed off again. We laugh and give her a Tide to Go pen. She cleans up a bit (still pissed) and then realizes that the egg may or may not have fallen directly into her purse under the table. We all laugh histarically at the prospect of this happening. We laugh until we are all crying. But then we check, and sure enough the egg landed on the deck instead.
We then wandered through the walled city, checking out all of the little cobblestone streets and a perfect piece fo culture that is Quebec city. It was really nice, and none of the girls (besides myself) had dever been there, so we took our time, and took a bazillion pictures. I felt like the architecture paporattzi.
We went for dinner with a colegue of moms. We ate at a little Swiss restaurant. We had Fondue Chinois (chineese fondue for those of us who don't parlez fancais). It was strips of thin beef and scallops, shrimps, and salmon, cooked in a pot of boiling onion soup and dipped in various mayonaises and mustard sauces. It was delicious. We then wandered to music. A live band playing ska punk of some sort. A local band I think. It wasn't our cup of tea. We went back to the hotel and were again asleep by 10pm.

DAY3: Mama Dukes had to work, and it was rainy. So us three sisters wandered Quebec getting wet and causing trouble. We found the naughty video store but didn't go in. We took pictures of random people on the street who were dressed funny, and went to a museum (of civilization) where we also took pictures we weren't supposed to (so they wont be posted) so that mom could see that she didn't miss much! Then we headed back to meet mom for a bit, before she headed off again to a fancy-pants dinner on the river, and we tried to find somewhere to eat. We found a restuarant with pountine (which was important to us!) but after Jen called to see if we needed a reservation, we found out it was equivalent to A&W or some such place. We had a good laugh. We ate at a little Italian restauant. Jen had milk shoot out he nose. I got it on video. Good times. Again, in bed before 10pm.

DAY 4: Mama Dukes had to work in the morning, so we went out again. Today we found the actual naughty store. I'm not telling if we went in or not... We found a brekfast place. Brianne got rotten chocolate milk, and we took pictures of a random old crazy woman while pretending to take pictures of us. Otherwise uneventful.
We met up with mom again, and walked the street all day. We saw the rest f old Quebec. The Chateau Frontenac. Took a horse and buggy ride, which was awsome, and let us see some more things we hadn't. We all hurt alot at the end of this day. We went to the pool at the hotel after, met a nice woman from Scotland, chatted, and chilled out. Had dinner at the hotel. Tipped the bitchy wait staff, even though I told mom not to.

DAY 5: Buffet breakfast at the hotel. I managed to steal 2 packs of caramel sauce, and a chocolate croissant (which was delicious) for the car ride home. Jen stole a pastry of some kind too. Brianne took nothing. She's learned nothing from us, obviously! Mom went back to man the booth one last time and we checked out, and went to the mall to get creton (yeah, the barfy pig fat) for the crazy French person in our house (ie. Mama Dukes) to eat on toast with mustard. We went back, collected mom, and she drove back (all 11 hours!!) the whole way, even though there were 2 willing and able drivers in the car.
On the way home it's raining, and we hit Montreal at rush hour. The highway is packed, and a woman merges without merging (not wanting to get in line, but instead trying to bypass on the shoulder). Then noone will let her in. She tries and tries, but she's screwed. And a white moving van has plans for her. She tries passing using the next off ramp. He cuts her off. We laugh. She tries to get in over and over again, but can't cause this van keeps blocking her. She throws her cell phone, she slams the stearing wheel, and is obviously raging. It's hilarious. We are all histarical in the car. She sees everyone laughing at her, and gets more pissed. She finally falls in behind moms van. Then sees an opening, and pulls out (again!) into the shoulder to get behind the white van, who proceeds to slam his breaks every four seconds almost causing an accident. I laughed so hard my throat hurt until the next day. She followed the van off the highway. I wish I could see the end of it. Like missing the end of a good movie.

The trip ended when we walked in the door to greet our puppies who missed us soo much. All in all a fantastic trip (Though I couldn't do it justice in one blog...)
Friday, July 06, 2007

I write blogs in my head

Just so everyine knows, I often think of blogging, and I even sometimes go as far as writing blogs in my head, but I noticed I haven't *actually* blogged in an awful long time.

So, the quickest update (although I'm on holidays for a few days starting tomorrow, so I'm hoping to blog then as well.

1. I am busy busy busy. I'm working on finishing data analysis, writing a paper for publishing, making a poster for the Australia conference, and preparing for my transfer (to PhD) exam
2. Family is great, Gemini is great, and friends are great
3. Why do people fake tan in the middle of summer?
4. Sometimes I want to take pictures of strange people just to blog about them. Is this OK / legal?
5. My friend is getting married and having a wedding shower. There is a theme. It is all things naughty (yes, that kind of naughty). It's presents by alphebet. They gave me "Z" because apparently I'm creative. Help me out folks...
6. I'm going to Quebec city with my Mama Dukes and my sisters. It's going to be super-fun! I'm going to try to post about it while we are there if we can get internet (I will travel the city with my laptop in hand to steal wireless internet (but dont tell...)

Those were the blogs I intended to write lately (obviously a very condensed version).

I'll update soon!!