I’m alone tonight. Jimmy left for a business trip this afternoon.

I had the car all to myself, could eat whatever I felt like eating for supper, could dance around to whatever music I wanted and be however loud I wanted.

Wanna take a guess at what I actually did tonight??

Drove home from work, ate a bagel for supper, didn’t take the car to the mall and shop till I dropped, barely even danced to anything. No clue where the time went….but it must have slipped away while I was doing the dishes and laundry.

And now for the ??????????? moment of the day.

Came home to this in my mailbox!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you thinking my mailbox was ‘crank called’??? Nope, it WAS delivered for Jimmy & I. My aunt dropped it in my mailbox as -what she calls- encouragement. Unfortunately, I took in the actual smallness of the sleeper and (yes, stating the obvious, I know) Whoa, newborns are small!!!!

The sad thing is…..here in Timmins, seems like responsible, somewhat-ready adults like my 28 year old self are missing the pregnancy boat. In Dr. X’s practice, every 25+ year old trying to get pregnant is having difficulty conceiving. However, just this week, we’ve seen two brand spanking new pregnant 18 year olds.

Umm, who's the biggest loser around?
Raina!!!
Check my snazzy slide show. Anyone notice that I apparently only have one friend - Caroline and one
cousin - Renee in the whole stupid thing.
I'm off for now, so I'll add other people and other pictures later.

Whoa, party in my mailbox!!! Came home to find a little package waiting for me from Jamie. Of course Jimmy called to tell me about it………and made me sooo anxious for work to be done with. I almost made him drive the package to me at work. Then realized he’d divorce me if I insisted on the completely irrational request.

Jamie Jamie Bo Bamie….I love the goodies. I suspect they are not handmade…..but I KNOW they were picked out with love right? That’s all that counts. Coolest bracelets ever!!! Sooo ‘Raina’. I dig em. I’m wearing them both as I type this.

Yessss, of course I stopped everything to take these pictures…. Decided my blog needed a few pics today.

Oooh, check the lack of 'porn' in my hair. Piggy tails, or as I like to call them - rabbit ears, are my 'do of choice for scrap nights. And did I even get scrapping???? Nope, but cleaned off my desk and found two empty envelopes addressed to Kristi S and Sarah H. (Perfecto, all ready for their bday tags and they're being mailed tomorrow. Anybody know why I made tags, wrote up envelopes and still have them in my possession?? )

Here's a close up of the two bracelets. I can't decide which one will get more 'wrist time'. They're both very cool.

And while I'm at it.... my bday tags have started to trickle in. Thank you to April and Kristi S. Soo exciting to see them in real life. April's came first and then Kristi's came in a few days ago. I'm just too lazy to pull out my camera sometimes. Finally did it tonight. Then there is a card and tag from Jamie.

FYI: ‘Comment of the Year’ came from an elementary teacher. How’s that for seeing a teacher in a whole new light. Growing up, I was intimidated by most of my teachers. Thought they were more like robots….figured they were all single, cranky and lonely. Now that I’m older and smarter, I know better.
And it doesn’t hurt that I’ve ‘met’ Christielli and Kristi S along my blogging journey.

This past Saturday I went to a surprise ‘Good Luck, Goodbye and Never Give Up’ party for my cousin Renee. She’s moving far far away to Canadian Hollywood (Vancouver BC) for 6 months of serious heavy duty schooling at the Vancouver Acadamy of Dramatic Arts. Then she’s charging full speed ahead with all her might to break into the business. Be it acting, directing, producing, writing.......who knows. She’s had experience in all aspects already. Whatever makes her happy…….I’m just hoping I can design a necklace for her to wear to her first award ceremony. Oh and hoping I get an invitation to a Hollywood wedding someday. (Trust me, she’s gorgeous and won’t settle for a poor bald man……we’re gunning for Keith Urban…..Renee’s fairly certain she can knock Nicole out of the picture.)

It was a whole production to get Renee out of the house on Saturday so the decorations could go up. Finally my aunt shipped Renee off to a whole afternoon at the spa. When she arrived home (fashionably late of course……) the party started up with a vengeance.


The guest of honor arrives finally.



me and Renee.



Renee & my adorable little brother.....who's barely ever given me a good picture in his 26 years.



What's a Hollywood send-off party without Hollywood clappers??!?!?



Renee, you're such a goof...........and I love you soo much. Good luck!!

Comment of the day

At work today, registering patients for the clinic. Trying to get blood pressures done at the same time. Trying to keep up with Dr. X who is going mighty fast and emptying exam rooms quicker than I can fill them.

And there is a snotty little kid (with boogers I mean, not snooty) who keeps escaping from his mother and sneaking behind my desk. And taking things off my desk. And talking to me. And poking me..... Get it, he was bugging me.

Finally get him and his clueless mother into a room, sit down to relax....and a woman comes up to my desk, leans over, and whispers "that kid is the load his mother should have swallowed!".

Amen.

Happy Valentine's Day

And that's all the acknowledgment I'm gonna give to this day.

Still haven't called Erin yet. I need to get her phone number. Worried I might have to call her parents to ask for her new number. I just know that Erin told them 'I don't know what I did'. So by default, I'm the bad one. What if they don't give it to me?

I've officially won the 'Worst Wife' award. Jimmy's big night last night and I forgot my memory card!!! Hopefully Jimmy's friend's parents will e-mail us pictures of Jimmy receiving his black belt. I've been obsessed with checking our e-mail since I got home last night. Hopefully they arrive today. Seriously, my Rebel is the first camera I've owned that doesn't take even 1-2 pictures without a memory card.

I"ve been playing around with Photoshop and I dig it. Yeah, dig is my new word. I've been using it a lot lately and Jimmy's getting a kick out of it. I'm still learning so I don't want to share quite yet. But I've mastered the fabulous 'enhancing with color' feature.

Off to work. Hopefully everyone is planning lovey dovey evenings for tonight so the clinic will be quiet this afternoon. I can use a catch up day.

Breaking up is hard to do

which is why I haven't called Erin yet. I will though. This weekend sometime. When I have an hour to spare cause I know it's gonna be a huge long cry-fest. And after I say everything that I have to say, I wonder if we will ever talk again.

Thank you to all of you ladies, and Scotty too.......you guys have all given me the encouragement to call. I really do want to hear what she has to say now. Before my last post, I thought I could just ignore her and she'd go away.....but I live in a small town and I ducked out of a Tim Horton's last week cause I would have run directly into her dad. Erin moved away to Toronto a few years ago and comes home about twice a year. I avoided her this past Christmas, but she should be coming home this summer. I know I'll run into her, so it's better we get the talk over with.

I called my friend Tina yesterday, who is the third girl in our trio. We met together and became fast friends. We've been through everything together so she knows Erin and all her dirty secrets too. I was wondering if Erin called Tina to talk and I was right. Got the whole scoop.

Erin thinks I'm mad cause she went skinny dipping at my wedding with my brother's friend. Totally not the case. Actually, when she finally did disappear to the lake, the flashing stopped so I was grateful she was out of the way. So is she playing dumb???? Cause I've never done anything while I was drunk that I could not remember the next day. I've done stuff I regretted, but I could always remember it.

Seriously, how do you remember only skinny dipping? She totally over-indulged in the free bar, Steve was licking icing off her, she was flashing her boobs to mine and Jimmy's family.

Anyways, on to something else ok? I'll let you know how our chat goes down later.

I'm a single gal this weekend. I have the whole place to myself. Woohoo!! Jimmy left this morning at 6am to drive to his black belt grading with his friend and his judo sensei. Jimmy's sensei is really a friend more than a sensei so he's going down to Sunridge (wherever the heck that is....) to sit on the grading board to make sure that Jimmy and his friend get their belts if they deserve it. Right now there is a crooked judge who might fail them because he knows Jimmy and Chris and is mad that they switched from his judo club to the one they are currently enrolled in. Oh the drama!!!

So, what's a single gal to do for a whole weekend???? Gonna scrap, eat cereal three times a day, listen to dance music and boogie all over the place and spend hours in the bathroom curling my hair.

Oh no, waitaminute.......gonna also spend some time getting aquainted with Photoshop. I got The Photoshop book for digital photographers by Scott Kelby that has everyone raving. Started playing a few days ago....and WHOA!!! Good book!! Let me play today and then I'll have tons of pics to share.

cheers!
xox

p.s. Happy Birthday to Kristi S. Your tag is assembled....just not glued yet. Cause I push things around a bazillion times before making anything official. I'll post later.

Give me a shake…cause I think I might be overreacting.

I’ve had a friend for 10 years. She just left a message on my voicemail and I listened to the whole message without picking up. She’s left a few messages on my voicemail since my wedding this past July, and I’ve yet to speak to her.

Tonight, she called, left a message and started to cry. Begging me to call her back. Telling me she loved me and that I was one of her best friends.

Erin is my ‘Samantha’ friend….you know, from Sex and the City. I wanted to write her off after she acted like, well……Samantha at my wedding.

This is a girl I’ve been friends with forever. She is also the only friend I have that ditched me over and over at the bars, when I was a bar-hopping single. I don’t think she ever left the bar with me to go home. She always went home with someone different. And told her parents she stayed over at my house when she got home the next morning. I love her, she has the biggest heart and is the greatest girl when she’s not drinking. She’s funny, she’s beautiful, and smart!!! However, when she drinks, she turns into a Girl Gone Wild.

I’m a married woman, my husband doesn’t like me hanging out with her. She knows what she does is wrong, yet she continues. She’s gonna get hurt someday and then what???

My mom says I should get over it. Her exact words were “Raina, you knew what she was like before you asked her to be a bridesmaid. You knew the way she acts. Forgive and forget.”

Yeah I knew, but I guess I hoped she’d act respectful. She told me she was a bridesmaid for a friend the year before and said “Raina, you’d be soo proud of me. I acted sooo responsible. I barely drank the whole night.” I seen pictures from the wedding and she actually did look sober….so I guess the truth is, I’m hurt that she couldn’t refrain on my special day.

I knew her track record when I asked her to be a bridesmaid. And I didn’t actually talk to her and ask her to refrain from her usual antics. But should I really have asked???? Isn’t it a rule to not over-indulge on the free bar and flash your boobs?? Wait I’ll paint a clearer picture……REPEATEDLY flash her boobs…..even after my maid of honor told her to cover up. Nope, she kept flashing married men, single men, uncles, cousins, friends…..told Caroline “but I’m soo drunk I can’t help it!!!! I’m just having soo much fun!!! Weeeeeeeee!!”

And then as we were cleaning up, she took off into the darkness for a midnight swim with a friend of my brothers. I was beyond mad. I knew her track record stood undefeated, but I just thought for one night, ONE NIGHT, couldn’t she act like a effing lady?

Now, obviously she’s figured out what I’m mad at her. I think the grown up thing to do is call her back.

But I haven’t a clue what to say to her?

p.s. Am I being too hard on her if there were many drunk people staggering around at the reception?? My wedding was on the hottest day of 2005 and immediately following the ceremony at 2pm the bar opened. And well, nothing feels better on a hot day than a cold beer (or whatever else you please) right? Hot sunny day + delicious wet bar = drunkfest

Picture of the Day

We got slammed with snow!!! It started Saturday night and snowed all day Sunday. I swear everyone was still shoveling out this morning for work.


At Jimmy's request, his dad came over this afternoon with his snow blower to clear our driveway and our backyard. Now I can finally let Banner out to pee without worrying...yesterday we kept having to get dressesd to go outside to dig Banner out of the snow when he got stuck.

Crappy weather makes for good scrapping so that's what I'm doing tonight.....and tomorrow it'l be even better cause I came home to a delivery notice in my mailbox....Ordered all sorts of goodies and I can pick 'em up tomorrow. It's all sorts of beautiful KI papers and schtuff!!

what the hell is wrong with blogger???
cause everything is wrong at my place????

Had a belated birthday dinner at Jimmy's parent's house. The installation of new cupboards collided with my birthday so it needed to be rescheduled. New cupboards were higher on the list of priorities since it was something Jimmy's mom had wanted before Christmas but they couldn't hire anyone who would promise that the kitchen wouldn't be in shambles on Christmas Eve. Anyways, it's cool.....I kinda like spacing birthday dinners apart.

Went to a bridal shower for my cousin Michelle this afternoon. If ever I have a moment of regret for moving back to Timmins from Ottawa, I'll make myself remember that being close by and able to attend family functions like this makes it sooo worth it.

Spent Friday at my aunt's house preparing for the shower. After all the food was made, we sat down and laughed till we cried and chatted late into the night. And this is the norm in my family...I've spent countless days, afternoons, evenings and even a few weekends partying with our family. But those days are coming to an end.

My cousin Michelle is getting married next weekend. That'll mean we'll see a little less of her now that she has to share holidays between two families. I don't blame her. I do the same thing too. But still, I'll miss having her around. Her fiance just returned from a 2 year mission in Guatamala this past October and since then, we've seen significantly less of her.

My cousin Renee is leaving me also next month. She's off to Vancouver BC for 6 months to attend school at the Vancouver Academy of Performing Arts (or whatever the name is.) As excited as I am about the prospect of having a celebrity in my family (and ultimately her falling in love with a leading man and throwing the biggest effing Hollywood party when she gets married) I am sad that she's leaving. However, I officially have a place to stay and a reason to visit BC once she's settled.

My two closest cousins - practically little sisters - are moving on. And I'm the most sensitive geek in the universe. I can't think about all the memories we've shared without getting misty-eyed.

Sunday morning we're off to check out a house for sale. (Why Jimmy booked chose 10am on a day off is beyond me.....Sunday is my day to sleep-in and stay in pj's.)