Montreal, Pt. 3 - Random Montreal Stuff

I suppose I should finish the story about my trip to Montreal. Days 3 and 4 were much more subdued than days 1 and 2. Largely due to how busy and how much walking we did on those first 2 days.

We started day 3 by heading to the Eaton Centre, near McGill University. After we got Michelle some new shoes, we headed over to the 2 story Addition Elle store. While we do have those stores here, we don't have them quite like this one. It had lines/clothing in it that aren't in our stores yet. I ended up with a new outfit (top/bottom) and a strapless tank top. We decided to go back to the hotel and drop our stuff off so we didn't have to lug it around town with us. We were meeting up with my co-worker for lunch since he was in town and had told us that he knew were to get the best poutine in Montreal. We were sold.

At this point, Michelle and I were very tired and our feet/legs hurt, a lot. It was also cold and had started to snain (kind of rain, kind of snow). So my poor co-worker had to listen to us bitch while he lead us through the plateau area of Montreal (which I'm sure it quite charming when you're not cold/hungry/in pain). We finally arrived at the restaurant only to discover that there was a line up...out the door. After assuring us about a dozen times that the poutine was indeed worth waiting in the snain, we relented and waited. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait outside long. Within 5 minutes we were inside and within 20, we were seated. I'm not going to lie. It was the best damn poutine I've ever had (well, ever had sober). I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that it was food after a long day or if the pogo cut up on top of mine added to it, but it was amazing. And very affordable too. Probably the best value we'd found thus far.

That evening, we venture out to an Irish pub that was within walking distance of the hotel. It was a cold and windy walk over. The pub was packed and was kind of cool. It was a typical Irish pub/sports bar, but the building was beautiful. The ceiling looked like it might have been copper and had neat designs in it. The Montreal game was on CBC so everyone in the bar was watching that. Unfortunately, Montreal started to lose very early and the bar got really quiet. I'd had 3 porn stars to drink so I was feeling pretty good and couldn't care less about the game. We headed back to the hotel after the first period. It was a sobering walk thanks to the crazy wind and low temps. The hotel was only 4 blocks away, yet Montreal was losing 4-0 by the time we got into our room. We stayed in and watched hockey for most of the evening.

On our final morning, we scored a free breakfast at the hotel thanks to a special connection I had. LOL. It was quite nice. We just rested and watched tv and then ventured out to pick up some food and snacks for the train. The train ride back was un-eventful and went by rather quickly. We played a game of "look, there's another church" to keep ourselves entertained.

All in all, it was a great weekend away and I think we both had a lot of fun. I can't wait to do it again next year but maybe this time we can find someplace warmer to go :)

Good Night!

Sarah

Ducks in the courtyard of our hotel

More Craziness on Public Transit

As much as I can, I try to avoid grocery shopping on the weekends. The stores are always crowded and it takes twice as long to get everything because you have to dodge people. So it might seem rather crazy that I decided to venture out to the Superstore today. What makes it even crazier, is the fact that it was their "save the tax" day to boot. I haven't been to Superstore in a very long time and I needed to stock up on a few things so I decided to brave the place today.

The produce section was a zoo, but it always seems to be that way. The rest of the store wasn't too bad. There was a lady giving our cheese samples who really loved my necklace so I stopped and chatted with her for a bit. I got a cheese sample and 2 coupons so it was worth it. LOL. I found almost everything I was looking for so I was happy.

The checkouts baffled me a bit. They have a lot of cashes, plus some self serve ones. Now for reasons I can't explain, the cashes at the far end of the store all had line ups of 3-4 people at them. The ones closer to the exit, only had 1-2 people at them, and no they weren't express lanes. I guess some people just don't pay attention. So I checked out in record time.

Now, the most entertaining part of my trip occurred on the bus on my way home. It was one of our smaller buses that came. There was already someone at the front with an electric and a man in a wheelchair got on at  the stop I was getting on at. There were 5 of us waiting for the bus and we all let the man in the wheelchair go first. Well, he got on but didn't pull the chair all the way in so he was actually on a diagonal and was blocking the aisle. As a result, the 5 of us all had to do a little dance and get created to get past him and the other guy in the wheelchair in order to get back to the seats on the bus. At this point, the man in the electric chair, who was already on the bus, points out to man #2 that he's not pulled in right and it blocking the aisle. I will point out at this point that if you have a manual wheelchair on the bus (like man #2 did), you're supposed to out the seats up (which he did), pull completely into the area with your back to the driver (he kind of did) and secure yourself with the seat belt provided (which he didn't do). He opted to hold on to the age of the flipped up seat for dear life instead. So, as we leave the stop, man #1 is still telling man #2 to straighten his chair out, especially since man #1 is getting off in 2 stops and can't get his wheel chair off is man #2 doesn't straighten out his chair and stop blocking the exit. Man #2 claims that he can't straighten out. Man #1 is growing more and more agitated. Man #2 is still clinging to the seat for dear life. The bus driver is clearly ignoring all of it. Technically, the bus driver should have made man #2 properly get into position since blocking the aisle is a safety hazard.

Anyhow, we get to man #1's stop and by some miracle, man #2 manages to pull his chair further in, almost creating enough room for man #1 to get out. Almost. Man#1 first drives into the padded post next to him and then hits the wall by the driver before finally being able to manoeuvre enough to get to the ramp to get off the bus. But not before having some final not nice words to share with man #2. Man #2 did seem to have something wrong with him (mentally) but it might also have been alcohol related as he came flying out of the LCBO just before catching the bus (I'd previously seen him in the Superstore too). But it really annoyed me that the bus driver just ignored the whole thing and it was happening right behind him. The man sitting in the seat facing man# 2 ignored the whole thing as well.

I guess helping your fellow man really has gone out the window. Maybe everyone's just afraid involved. No good deed goes unpunished so they say. I can remember when the bus drivers used to help people with strollers, wheelchairs, crutches etc... or make sure that the elderly had found seats before taking off but not so much anymore. Just like the people who ride the bus and don't seem to understand the concept of giving up your seat at the front to someone who's older than you or who has a disability and can't stand on the bus or giving up your seat to a woman who's clearly pregnant. If you're not capable of behaving in a proper, respectful and courteous manner when in public, then perhaps those people shouldn't go out in public. Or maybe it's a matter of parents not teaching good manners and respect to their children anymore.

Good Night.

Sarah

Montreal, pt. 2

I've been too sleepy to write the last couple of nights so I'll try to get a post in tonight.

Day 2 in Montreal started with a trip to the BioDome. It's a kick ass place that has re-created 4 environments indoors. They each feature flora and fauna native to that environment along with some animals and fish. There are lots of educational things along the way to read too. It's very cool to experience the different environments as you move through the building. The tropical rain forest is very hot and humid while the Maple Forest is like walking through a local park. I highly recommend this to anyone going to Montreal.
I loved watching the otters. They almost seemed to know that there were people watching so they were putting on a show for us and almost totally posing for photos!

After that, we headed back to the hotel. We picked up some sandwiches en route and had lunch in our room before heading back out. This time we were off to the incredibly beautiful, Notre Dame Basilica.  When you first walk in and see the stunning alter standing before you, in all its glory, it kind of takes your breath away (I had the same reaction the first time I saw the inside of the Library of Parliament on the hill in Ottawa). I've seen this church a couple times now and the beauty still takes my breath away. If I got to sit in something so historical and so gorgeous every week, I might just be inclined to go to church on a regular basis! 

We did the self guided tour and were able to take our time and look at all the fine wood work. The really big treat for me this time was getting to see the Chapel of the Notre-Dame du Sacre-Coeur. The chapel (located inside the Basilica) burnt down in 1978 but was restored and re-opened in 1982. The chapel is so bright and airy and has a slightly more simple beauty to it. I really enjoyed seeing it as I missed it the last time I was there. Michelle and I wrote in the guest book and continued our tour. The size of the church really is something else. We lit a couple of candles and then moved on out to the gift shop.

It was a crazy windy day and we almost got blown away while sitting on a bench in the square across from the church. We decided to head to the Old Port and check out the St. Lawrence River next. We were able to see Montreal Island and the amusement park during our walk along the river. After resting for a bit and once again nearly getting blown away, we headed back into Old Montreal for dinner.

Old Montreal is just that: old. It's narrow streets and gorgeous old buildings. Some of the roads are still cobble stone. Since I'm a history buff, I love the place. Even if half the shops are cheap souvenir stores. We had dinner at a rustic Italian restaurant called "The Spaghetti Factory" (not to be confused with The Old Spaghetti Factory) and then did some shopping in said cheap souvenir stores. 

We finally got back to the hotel and decided that a nice swim in the pool would be awesome. The hotel's pool is an outdoor pool. Normally, one doesn't go swimming outdoors in Canada in April, but this was no ordinary pool. It's a heated one. We went swimming in the cold rain and totally enjoyed ourselves. If your head got cold, you could swim over to the waterfall and stand there for a bit or just dunk down under the water. It was very awesome.  Michelle and I were pretty darn tired by the time we got into bed. Kind of like how I am now.

Stay tuned for part 3 of the Montreal trip!

Good Night!

Sarah

Montreal!! (part 1)

I'm back! As you may have noticed, I haven't blogged in a while. Almost a week in fact. I do believe that this is the longest period of time I've gone without blogging since I started. I actually missed it and I think I might have started having withdrawal symptoms. LOL.

Anyhow, the reason for the blog hiatus is that I was in Montreal, with my friend Michelle. We had a blast. It was great fun and I really enjoyed having some company this time around, even if she did try to get drunk on our first night there (no worries, I attempted revenge 2 nights later).

We went to the Botanical Gardens and saw the "Butterflies Go Free" exhibit, visited the BioDome where we saw the sloth this time (I didn't see him last time) but the Bobcat was hiding, took a tour of the Notre Dame Basilica (stunning and neither of us got struck by lightening), toured Old Montreal and the Old Port (and managed to not get blown into the St. Lawrence), ate the best poutine I've ever had (while sober), got upgraded to VIP status at the hotel which scored us a free breakfast, managed to not get lost in the subway, learnt that taking 4 lefts in a row will actually take you to some place different and not back to where you started from, got to swim outside (in the rain, in April) without freezing our asses off and generally just had a great time with a great friend.

Our train ride from Ottawa to Montreal was good. The train left 1 minute late and arrived 1 minute last so that's pretty good time. The guy on the train with the food/drinks cart was pretty funny. I spoke French to him and he was impressed by my attempt, so he tried to get Michelle to do the same. That didn't work. LOL. He then told us a funny story about offering "Swedish Balls" to a couple the week before instead of saying "Swedish Berries". It was pretty damn funny. Once in Montreal, we checked into the hotel and headed off to the Botanical Gardens. We'd lucked out and the hotel sold us discounted tickets to the Gardens and BioDome so we save some money. When we got to the Gardens, they were having electrical issues and all the lights/power was out. Since the green houses just use nature light, we were still allowed in. They said that the power should be fixed within a half hour or so and they were right. We were in the tropical  plants section when all of a sudden, we heard a funny noise and then what sounded like water gurgling. I looked over at the little waterfall they have and sure enough, the water came running down it again. The pump was back on. This meant that by the time we'd finished the tour and saw the butterflies, the gift shop had re-opened. That was very important. LOL.

Afterwards, we ventured back to our hotel and then out to a place called The Burger Bar for dinner. It was crazy trendy. I definitely felt under dressed. I needed to add a scarf or floppy hat (the girl beside us had one) or something. I did have a very yummy Orange Creamcicle martini though, which according to Michelle, I drank far too slowly (she had 2 double Sex on the Beach in the same time it took to drink my 1 drink). She made some comment about not getting out much. The food was amazing though. Very awesome, unique burgers. They had one that had won an award during "Burger" week. It was called "The Hangover". It had bacon, cheese, a fried egg, mini poutine and truffle oil on it. There might have been a few more things too. I skipped it and had the Wild Shroom burger instead. Very yummy. We walked around the area for a bit, hitting up Ben and Jerry's for ice cream on the way back and taking a detour to see the Bell Centre (since Montreal is Michelle's team) before finding our way back to the hotel for a much needed rest.

And the rest of this story is to be continued because I need to get my butt to bed since I have to go back to work tomorrow.

Good Night!

Sarah

There's A Mystery A Foot!

Two more sleeps and Michelle arrives and I'm on holidays for 5 days. I can't wait.

Work was really good today. I focused and got through so much stuff. For the most part, I was pretty much left alone to my own devices today, which allowed me to plow on through my "to-do" list. I'm certainly less stressed as a result.

Wish I could say the same thing about my apartment. LOL. It was tv night so I wasn't really focused on cleaning. I did get the dishes done, along with 2 loads of laundry. But I still need to sweep and mop the floors and dust a shelf. Good thing I don't watch anything special on Tuesday nights. Michelle was right. Tomorrow is going to be one very long day.

Last night my dad did something a little 'odd'. He asked a woman I went to high school with (and haven't seen or spoken to since roughly 2000) for her phone number. When I asked him why he's requested it, he said "no reason". My dad is a horrible liar. Mom's pretty bad too. But the older I get, the better my BS detector gets. So I knew something was up. Today in the mail, I got an invitation to my great Aunt's 80th birthday party. I've already bought my train ticket to go home that weekend so I was planning on going. It also happens to be the long weekend in May and my Aunt's birthday happens to be the day after mine. The party is a surprise party (so if anyone reading this knows my aunt, shhhh, don't tell her!), but there was a note written on the back of my invitation which says "P.S. It's a surprise for Sarah too. Haha". I quizzed my mom on this and she's claiming that she knows nothing. Which isn't true. My mom;s like Wikipedia - she knows everything even if some of it's made up. So now I don't know what the heck is up. Are they messing with me? Is it s joint party? Screw it. I'll worry about it after Montreal. I've got enough to think about already.

And now I'm off to clear the clean laundry off my bed and get some sleep.

Good Night!

Sarah

Clean-Sweep of a Weekend :)

It was a pretty quiet weekend here. I didn't actually really leave my apartment, except for the trips I made to take the garbage and recycling downstairs. The weather wasn't the greatest so I didn't mind being indoors. When the sun made an appearance late this afternoon, I did go and stand on my balcony. I stood in the sun, closed my eyes, and soaked in the warmth and happiness for a little while. While I was out there, two chickadees came along and were eating the seeds and nuts that I put out for them. They didn't seem to mind that I was there.

I spent all weekend cleaning and re-organizing. Or trying to at least. It would appear that my idea of re-oganization is moving a pile of stuff from one spot to another. I quite literally got down on my hands and knees and was scrubbing the grout on my kitchen floor this afternoon. It paid off too. Literally. I found a toonie wedged under the baseboard by my kitchen door. I pried it out and now have $2 more than I had this morning.

When I booked the trip to Montreal, it seemed so far away. And now it's almost here. 4 more sleeps :) I'm sure I'll be a little more excited about it once I'm finished with my apartment and I've made it through work this week. I'm really looking forward to just relaxing and spending time with a good friend and a change of scenery. Maybe getting a difference perspective on things. And on the bright side, I'll have finished my spring cleaning so I can go out and play on the weekends again!! I really do need to over-haul my bedroom though - but it can wait a bit long.

Good Night!

Sarah

Blog trivia - this is the photo that I used on my very first blog.

More Weather Venting and A Bus Caused Power Outage

I made it through the wilderness. Somehow I made it through. Didn't know how lost I was....because the damn snow/ice pellets were in my eyes. It was definitely a brutal day. Those bloody little ice pellets really hurt when they're coming down. The wind whipping them around didn't help. The funny part is that the ice pellets actually were providing some traction on the sidewalk. There'd been some freezing rain earlier. Thankfully that had stopped before I left for work. It's zero and raining right now. Our "Winter Storm" warning ended at 10:18, so about a 20 minutes ago. We still might see some freezing drizzle overnight and possibly some more tomorrow morning but it sounds like we're in for just normal rain and above zero temps tomorrow. My apartment is still damn cold though. It's kind of like being at my parent's house. My poor nose has been cold since I got home from work. Looks like we have a rainy week ahead of us too.

Work was good today. I was kept busy doing research on requests and getting some late finance things done. It was relatively quiet in the office as a lot of people had taken the day off and even more didn't make it in today due to the weather. We had an office "coffee break" which involved getting coffee and doughnuts for the staff. I think everyone liked that. We even managed to get some for the evening shift and they were happy. Unlike parts back home, we lucked out and didn't lose power at all today. The storm caused power outages back in Southern Ontario. Only one part of Ottawa lost power and that was thanks to a city transit bus. It slide off the road and took out some power poles in the process. Our buses are talented like that. And it's the second time one of those particular style of bus has slide off the road this winter. I think the City of Ottawa needs to "Winter Road Test" any new style/type of bus that they're thinking of purchasing. That was they'll know that they can survive our winter weather.

I'm in for a quiet weekend. First up on the agenda is a frequent item: sleeping in. Once that is accomplished, I really have to get my ass in gear and finish getting this place cleaned up. I need to re-organize the clutter and then sweep/swiffer/wash the floors. I also need to wash the towels and bedding. Lots of fun, right? Curling up with my book or a good movie might be in the cards too. I think some Chinese food might be as well. I'll have to see what I feel like tomorrow. Here's hoping that the productivity fairy comes to visit and I can get a lot accomplished. My bedroom is pretty much a lost cause (always is) so I'm not going to worry about that right now. Besides, no one but me sees it!!

Since my eyes seem to be closing on their own, I think it's time to log off and go burrow down under my blankets and see if I can get warm. Which will probably backfire and I'll wake up at 3am, hot and sweaty. LOL.

Good Night!

Sarah

Snow be gone!!

More Ranting About The Weather and Random Thoughts.

For a long week, it's gone by surprisingly quick. It's been a very busy and stressful week too. Plus I've got PMS. I'm kind of impressed that I haven't snapped and tore someone's head off. But tomorrow is going to be a tricky one. We're in for a very nasty storm, full of snow and ice pellets and maybe even my favourite thing of all: Freezing rain. Stupid weather.

I was in bed a little after 9 last night. I curled up and decided to read for a bit but I'd put my book away and was asleep before 10. I haven't made it to bed that early in quite awhile. I sure made a difference on my day today. French class was good. We had a quiz and I made it through the quiz in one piece so that was good. In fact, the class seemed to fly by today.

I just keep telling myself that I only have to make it through tomorrow. Then it will be the weekend. I've stocked up on food so I don't have to go out (but I still might as I think I'm going to make mussels again this weekend). I'm going to focus on cleaning all weekend and get my apartment in tip-top shape again. It might not look/feel like spring but my spring cleaning is in full swing. I still need to find something for my friend to sleep on while she's here. I'm pretty sure I saw some air beds on sale in the Canadian Tire flyer for this upcoming week.

My winter boots are ready to go for tomorrow but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that the storm misses us all together (yeah, I'm delusional) or at least doesn't hit as bad as it's supposed to or maybe just brings us a little snow and no ice. Or just rain (normal rain). Sigh. I'm so ready for spring to be here.

Time to hit the hay and dream of sunshine. Oh, and my little blog here now has over 8000 page views. That's  crazy awesome. And still incredibly unbelievable.

Good Night!

Sarah

Sarah + PMS = this photo :)

You call this Spring? Oh Look! Firemen!

This has to be one of the worst springs that we've had in years. The weather just can't seem to even out. I got used to this roller coaster type weather when I was in Alberta but this is very odd for Ontario. Environment Canada is calling for a significant snow event on Friday. This isn't good.

We had some excitement this morning. I'd gone on a coffee run. When I came out of Tim Horton's, there was smoke in the air and I could see it rising from the back of the restaurant across the street. By the time I got a block away, the fire trucks were arriving. So I dropped off the coffees and headed back out with 2 co-workers (it was only a block away). So we got to stand there on our break, watching the firefighters in action. I have to say, some of them were on the very handsome side of things. LOL. Sadly, that was the highlight of my day. Who am I kidding? That's been the highlight of my month thus far. Luckily, the restaurant wasn't heavily damaged. It was a fire in their exhaust system.

An alarming number of people in the office seem to be sick at the moment, coming down with spring colds. Given our wacky weather, it's not surprising. I just really hope that I don't come down with a cold before or during my trip to Montreal. I don't really want to get sick after it either, but if I'm going to catch the cold, I'd like to do so after the trip. I still have a lot of cleaning/organizing to do before Michelle gets here. Guess what I'm doing this weekend? Yeah. Cleaning.

I think I'm going to go and crawl into bed and try to get warm. It's a little chilly in my apartment this evening.

Good Night!

Sarah

How I feel some days.

Reflection

I spent a lot of today looking around and thinking about things. Specifically, my life. It was a very reflective day. Some of the stuff that reflected back to me was pretty good and that made me happy. However, the majority of stuff wasn't so good and that made me kind of sad. I didn't sit down and tear myself apart or put myself down. This was just a general evaluation of how things are going in my life. My 35th birthday is only 6 weeks away, so I think that's what spurred on today's thoughts. Time to check in and evaluate things.

I'm doing so much better than I was 5 years ago. When I turned 30, I was miserable. I kept that to myself as much as possible but things were bad. With the exception of still being single, almost everything else has changed and improved. A lot of things in this world get better with age. Apparently I'm one of those.

The problem I have before me at the present is that I've become complacent with my life. Things have gotten better and are going well, so I'm ok with just letting things be. This isn't good. I'm a dreamer. I have a vivid imagination and wild dreams and unfortunately, I seem to be operating under the delusion that I live in a Disney version of the world, where if you wish hard enough, and believe strongly enough *poof*, your magic godmother fairy type person appears and makes all those dreams come true. Yeah, that's not quite how it works.

I've come to the rather sobering realization that if I want any of these wild ass dreams of mine to come true, then I'm going to need to work for them. Really, really work for them. Put plans in place and follow through on them. Strive to be better and not accept mediocrity. I've been doing that my whole life. Like back in high school. I was a good student. Good grades came to me easily, so I never really pushed myself. Same with University. Had I actually pushed myself and really applied myself, I could have got great grades but for some stupid reason, I never felt the need.

But not anymore. This isn't just limited to my personal life either. My work life is going to have to change as well. I need to start looking for the next step. My career needs to grow too. And while complacency can be safe, it's not what I want. Don't get me wrong, I like and most of the time enjoy my job, but it's not my "dream" job and it's not the final destination in my career path either.

I am holding out some hope that the universe will help me along too and I have faith that it won't let me fall on my ass either.

I know what I want and why I want it. I just don't know the Where, as in where this will take me, the Who as in who will I become or the most important and hardest one, the How. That one is going to require some more thought and planning. But I do know that whatever I decide to do or how I decide to approach it all, everything is going to start with one small step, taken with courage, hope and determination. And I'm taking that step right now.

Good Night!

Sarah

Sunny Saturday and Sleep

Since I haven't blogged for the last couple of nights, I thought I should probably do so. Frankly, I've been too damn tired to Blog. After the no sleep Wednesday, Thursday night wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. Despite being crazy tired, it still took a long time to fall asleep. Thankfully, last night was a bit better. I'm still waking up a lot in the night but I got to sleep in this morning, so that was very nice. I also had a nice can of Pear Cider this evening so I'm hoping that helps with the sleep too.

It was a beautifully sunny day here today. Too bad it was breezy and that breeze was stupid cold. Stupid weather. We're in for flurries this evening and freezing rain early in the morning then it's going to warm up and the freezing rain will change to normal rain. Looking at the week's forecast, it appears that spring might just be here. Heck, it's supposed to be 20C with rain on Wednesday. Go figure. Weather people are predicting that we'll have a long, hot and humid summer. I'm ok with the long and hot part. The humid part I could do without.

My day was pretty good. I went downtown and cashed in my coupon for a free bottle of perfume that I got for Christmas. The lady said I could have the small bottle for free, or pay $11 and get the big bottle. So, 35ml for free or 60ml for $11. Big bottle it was. I ventured into the market and went to my favourite butcher shop. They had some lamb souvlaki skewers, so I decided to have a Greek night. I bought them and I made some Greek rice and made a Greek Vinaigrette for the Greek salad I made. It was all very good. I also picked up a bottle of my new favourite wine and a couple cans of the Pear Cider I discovered last month. I ran a couple more errands and hit up the grocery store before returning home to bask in the sun coming in my windows.

I started to watch Madagascar 3 this evening. It made me laugh so that's good. I'll watch the other half in the morning.

Since tomorrow is looking like it's going to be a dreary day, I'm going to use it to clean my kitchen. I'm going to make a pasta dish for dinner. It's on the cover of the April issue of Food Network magazine. Looks easy enough. They have a truly kick-ass cake in this issue. It looks just like a flower pot with flowers in it! So cool.

My friend Michelle and I head to Montreal in 13 short days. I'm excited and not excited all at the same time. I have a lot of house work to do before she gets here and work is crazy busy right now so I have to make sure everything's all organized before I leave. That being said, I'm only actually missing 3 days of work and the break will be really good for me and I really am looking forward to seeing Michelle again. It's been a very, very, very long time since I've spent this much time with her, so I'm slightly apprehensive about it too. I'm sure everything will be great. I just hope that Mother Nature co-operates too and gives us some nice weather while we're there. The long range forecast isn't looking very good. But it's still a good ways out.

WTF?? It's 11:30pm and it sounds like someone is walking around upstairs with a peg leg. I swear, I have some of the most disrespectful and inconsiderate neighbours ever. Earlier, I got to listen to the couple down the hall yelling at one and other, again. It's pretty much a weekly event. It's one of the things I miss about my apartment in Calgary. Other than the dude that used to watch porn with the volume up and the naked people who lived in the building beside me, the neighbours were pretty awesome and very quiet.

Anyhow, I can hear my bed calling, so I think it's time to hit the hay and see if I can not only fall asleep quickly, but stay asleep until morning.

Good Night!

Sarah

Can't Sleep

I wasn't going to blog tonight because I was too tired. But seeing as I've been tossing and turning for the last hour and a half, I said "fuck it", got up and now I'm blogging.

This is ridiculous. I've been sleeping like shit since the weekend. Usually I'm pretty good at falling asleep, I just can't seem to stay asleep but lately, I can't fall asleep either. And for the past 4 nights, when I am asleep, I keep having really strange dreams. It's getting to be very annoying.

I've been tired all day. I fought off the urge to have a nap earlier because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. I guess that was a mute point. I went to be at 10pm. It's now 11:35pm and I'm wide awake. I feel like crap and I have to be up at 6am. And if the sleeping issues weren't bad enough, I keep waking up between 5-5:30am and then fall back to sleep just in time for my alarm to go off. WTF??

I nearly drifted off to sleep around 10:45 but then a cop car or ambulance went down the road with its siren blaring (really?? There's so much traffic on the road at this hour that you need your siren) and the damn thing woke me up and I can't been able to get back to sleep since. I can't get comfortable in bed either. My pillows are too flat or my arm starts to fall asleep. And I can't get the temperature right either. It's too cold with the window open (even just a crack) and it's too hot with the window closed. And to add to my misery, I have a song stuck in my head and it won't leave.

I seriously don't know what to do. This is very frustrating. I feel exhausted and tired. But as soon as I lay down, BOOM! Wide awake. My room is nice and dark, I have the fan on for background noise, I don't have any electronics in the room (no tv or computer) so there's nothing to distract me. I didn't have any caffeine this afternoon/evening, so that's not it. I don't really have anything on my mind that's bugging me, so that's not the issue either. Maybe I should raid my bathroom cupboard and see if I have any Gravol. That shit usually makes me pretty groggy. With my luck, it would just make things worse. It's be groggy but unable to fall asleep and then when I did sleep, it would be for such a short time that it would still be in my system when it's time to wake up.

Sigh. I don't know what to do. I guess I'll just go back to bed and stare at the ceiling for a few more hours.

Good Night!

Sarah

My brother seems to be able to fall sleep anywhere. Wish I could!

More Growth and Another Empty Bin

Continuing on yesterday's fun, I decided to tackle the 2nd mystery box.

This one contained a lot more mundane things like tax returns and supporting documents for doing my taxes. Some were more than 7 years old so I can toss those but a lot of the paper work I opted to keep for a little longer. I also have about 7 years worth of old bills. I think I'm going to need to buy myself a personal shredder and go on a spree.

I also found another diary. This one is not nearly as negative as the last one I found. This one is far more entertaining. I started writing it when I was 13 and the last entry in it was when I was 20. Talk about a lot changing. I wrote about my family, school, my high school friends, my high school crushes and love lost. I wrote about silly, trivial things that, at the time, didn't seem to be so, but they sure are now. 34 year old Sarah is kind of having fun laughing at 13 year old Sarah. If I'd known then what I know now...LOL. I also wrote about some serious stuff. Like how incredibly scared I was when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. How hopeful I was on my first night away at University. 34 year old Sarah wishes she could tell 19 year old Sarah not to worry so much that everything would be ok. I also wrote about some funny things like kidnapping a stuffed bear named "Hairy Bum",doing Chinese Fire Drills at 1am with a car full of boys - one of whom apparently crawled back into the car via the rear window, attending Prom and throwing a few surprise birthday parties. These memories made 34 year old Sarah smile. And while most of the people involved in those memories are no longer part of my life, I'm quite good with that. I only actually miss having one or two of them around. I guess that's another sign of growth and being able to move on.

Other than cleaning out the bin and my morning shopping trip for cheap chocolate and yogurt, I really didn't do much today. I did watch several episodes of Charmed on Netflix. It's been a very long time since I had a "do nothing" day and the best part is that I didn't even feel guilty about it. I think we all need a day like that form time to time.

The break it over. It's back to reality tomorrow, which means it's back to work. Thankfully, it's just a short week, which is nice. I refuse to get stressed about it. I treated myself to some new songs from iTunes, so I'll have them to listen to en route to and from work. That will make the day just a little bit better.

Good Night!

Sarah