my journey

Go Riders!

2007-11-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

Jamaica rocked. Check Facebook for all 220 of my pictures.

Only 4 more days until the Riders win the Grey Cup! Seriously, I am so freakin excited. I remember the 89 game like it was yesterday, even though I was only 9. 18 years later, they're gonna do it again, I can feel it!

That's all I have to say.

Jamaica!!!

2007-10-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Jamaica in 4 days!!!! That's all. Oh, and I just bought the new album by Nikki Sixx's new band, The Heroin Diaries. It's amazing, and everyone should check it out.

Summer's end

2007-08-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that summer is almost over? How crazy is that? It seems like we spend all year waiting for June, July and August and before you know it, Labor Day is just around the corner. I really have got to figure out a way to make the summer months slow down because it seems as though January and February take forever to get through. Ok, that's the end of my "summer is almost over" rant.

I loved Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm so sad that it's all over. I think I sobbed through the last 200 pages just because I knew that it would come to an end. Yes, I'm a dork. I openly admit that and am surprisingly okay with it.

With the end of summer comes Cassidy's birthday. She's going to be 7 on Sunday. I honestly have a hard time believing she is so old. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday and now I'm planning her 7th birthday party. Tomorrow she'll be 18 and moving out. Somebody stop the madness! Anyways, we're going to Let's Play for her party. It's this really cool indoor jungle gym and arcade place that is just way too much fun. I love it b/c adults can play too. And seriously, what 27 year old does not want to jump into a great big ball pit? So amongst other things, I bought her High School Musical for her birthday. Now, I'm not so sure that was a good idea because I'm going to be walking around singing Breaking Free for the next 3 months. Oh well, it's still a cute movie. A bit cheesy and waaayyyyy to Disney perfect, but cute nonetheless.

Ball season is almost over, finally. I love playing ball and am always itching to get back on the diamonds starting in November, but I'm getting tired. However, my slo-pitch team only has one game left next Tuesday for the league championship. That's kind of exciting. I say kind of exciting, because I still have a hard time saying that slo-pitch is a real sport. Fastball and baseball, absolutely. Slo-pitch....not so much. And I just don't get those teams that take it oh-so-seriously and don't even crack a smile while they're playing. Like come on, it's slo-pitch! Any sport that you play better after a few drinks does not qualify as a real sport. My fastball team is done for the year now. We finished 4th in our league after a tension filled play-off series that involved me getting kicked in the face by a runner sliding into home. The dangers of being a pitcher.

Hmmmmm. Not much else is going on. I'm glad to have my girl back from Saskatchewan. We're pretty lucky that we had so much time to visit with friends and family this summer. It was nice. We'll have to do it more often. As we were driving to my ball game last night, Cassidy asked me if I missed my friend. I asked her what friend? She said the friend that we had a sleepover with in Saskatoon. For some reason, she couldn't remember Leah's name. So I told her that yes, of course I missed my friend. And then she asked if we were ever going to see her again. So I'm taking that as a hint that we don't go back home nearly enough. I will do my best to change that.

I'm off to Jamaica in 3 months!!! So excited. And I still have 40 minutes left before I can go home for the day but I don't think I can ramble on about nothing for that long. So, I'll go now and see if anything new has happened on People.com in the last hour.

Bye!
Megan

Vacation

2007-07-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

It's almost vacation time. 1 more day of work this week and then I'm off to Lacombe for the weekend for provincials. Back in the office Monday & Tuesday next week and then I'm off until August 7. I'm going to Saskatoon to pick up Cassidy and I can't wait to see her! Then I'm going to take Leah and the kids for dinner on Wednesday night and Tuesday I'm off to the farm for one glorious, stress-free week. Lara's wedding is on Saturday and that will be soooo much fun. Then my plan is to blow up Cassidy's kiddie pool, set up my lawn chair and read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So excited.

Back to Sask?

2007-07-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

Sigh. Maybe. I'm back at work today after a week out of office. Okay, so 3.5 days of that was technically still work b/c I was in Red Deer for training. But I don't mind training. I get to stay in nice hotels and check out different restaurants and I went for a wicked massage. But it was still work. Thursday after my training was done, I headed home, unpacked, re-packed and headed to the airport - destination Regina, SK. I booked the latest flight b/c I wasn't sure when my training would be done so I sat in the airport for 3 hours. Normally, I wouldn't mind b/c Calgary has a decent airport so I can easily kill 3 hours just by shopping. But I didn't consider the fact that everything would be closed by the time I got there. So I finally get on the plane and am itching to take off because I really, really miss my family and my little girl by this point. Then the overly-fake-happy stewardess informs us that there are 5 people who are stuck in security and we would have to wait for them. I'm incredibly irritated by this - the rest of us managed to make it through security on time so my vote was to leave without them. Turns out, my vote doesn't count. So we finally land in Regina and my dad is there waiting for me. We don't get back to the farm until around 3 am. I was tired. I had been up since 4 am the night before. Be thankful that I spared you that long story about how I was woken up by a bunch of little punks running up and down the halls of my hotel. So anyways, I woke up at noon and went outside. And then it hit me how much I had missed Saskatchewan. It's just so quiet and peaceful. No sirens, no stereos, no random yelling fights on the sidewalks. Just peaceful.

Okay, I'm back and it's 2 days later. To sum up my trip, it was really good. I had a great time relaxing and visiting with family and friends. The wedding was beautiful, pictures are posted below. I'm looking forward to going back at the end of July. My plan is to head down to Saskatoon for a day or so around the 25 then to Neudorf until the wedding. I love holidays.

Stampede started today. I'm exhausted already becuase I had to get up at an ungodly hour to work at our breakfast. But I'm taking off at 2 so I can hang in for 3 more hours. And... Harry Potter mania is starting again. I'm so excited for the movie/book it's quite ridiculous. Goes to show that you're never to old to stop believing in magic.

2007-06-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

Long time, no blog. It's been crazy here lately. Summer is here and with summer comes the end of school for Cassidy. She's leaving for 6 weeks to spend time with her dad and my parents while my baby-sitter takes her summer holidays. I'll miss her terribly. After Stampede, of course. I enjoy being on my own during Stampede. I've been doing a lot of travelling lately to get trained for my new job. Still with the same company, just a promotion. Which came with a nice, big raise. So now I have money to invest in company stocks. I guess it's time I research stocks and all that good stuff. I know nothing about investing. However, I have friends that do so I'll have to call on them to teach me the ropes.

I started playing fastball again. The first few games I was so sore that I could barely walk. And last game I had 6 strike-outs and hit a triple. It's all coming back.

I was so proud to say that I was resisting the Facebook temptation, but I caved yesterday. It's actually kinda fun. Now I have to go through all my pictures and find some to post so everyone can see what I'm up to. What a brilliant invention. Whoever thought of Facebook must be so rich by now. Wonder if he's single???

So the wedding season is sneaking up on me again. Next week I'm taking off for Sask to go to Chad's wedding, then Lara's is month after that. When fall comes around, I'll have 2 more classes to take (ick) and then I get to reward myself with a nice, week-long trip to Jamaica for Roch and Pearl's wedding. I can't wait. It'll be so much fun.

My Habitat for Humanity event went off perfectly last Saturday. I had a few last minute cancellations, but overall it went really well. Our crew leader was a really cute young guy. So I was very encouraged at first until I realized he had the personality of a rock. And then was informed that popped steriods like candy. Sigh. Oh well. I did get some really good pictures of his arms. And they let me play with drills and power tools all day. Then we had a partay for my 27th birthday. Did you know that 27 is officially old enough to start receiving birthday cards about aging? I found that a bit disturbing. I feel very old this week. I just can't stay up partying until 4 am anymore.

We've had some crazy weather here in Calgary lately. I don't think it's stopped raining for more than a day since May. I may be exaggerating a little bit, but we did get a few wicked storms. I love thunder storms, I find them strangely calming.

I'm going to Mamma Mia on Saturday! So excited. I love ABBA. Not sure why, but I love all their songs. So it should be a good show. And that's about all I have to say right now.

Bye all!

This and That

2007-05-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

So I haven't blogged in a while. That's pretty obvious to those of you who read my blog (thanks!). It's been busy around here lately. Mostly with work. How boring is that? It's actually not boring at all, I'm really starting to love my job. I don't know why...there is so much to do and it's insanely stressful but it's also very challenging and I love seeing the results of improvements that I initiated. However, those improvements are still few and far between. But it's coming. Like my mentor from Houston tells me every week... You can't eat an elephant in one bite.

Speaking of elephants, I've had this crazy urge to take Cassidy to the zoo. Actually, I want to go to the zoo but it's a great way to spend the day with her. And it's an awesome excuse to eat hot dogs and ice cream cones. The snow is finally gone and it looks like spring is here. However, it's pouring rain right now. Blah. This weekend my volunteer council is participating in the Bow River Clean-Up. It's an annual event where tons of people divide into groups and each clean the garbage along their designated section of the pathways in Calgary. It's usually a lot of fun and you see some pretty weird things... Also, Calgary is an eye-sore right now. The paths get so dirty over winter.

I think I finally found a church that I enjoy going to! It's St. Giles Presbyterian and I really enjoyed it last week. We found it through my brother in law's parents. Their old minister left St. Albert b/c his wife had some personal problems and now he's going to be preaching here in Calgary. So we went to check it out and I really like it. Yay. It's so hard to get up and go to church on Sunday when you know you're going to be bored during the service. Looks like the search may have come to an end. A belated thanks to Leah for that advice...

Ball season started again. Finally. We had our first double header on Tuesday. It was tons of fun, but I took a beating. Yes, I know you're all saying "how do you take a beating in slow pitch?" it's possible. In this league, the umpires make you stand so close to the plate, it's freaky. And I was filling in for our regular catcher b/c she was late. I got hit in the head twice. TWICE!!! I have 2 huge bumps on my noggin. And then I was on first and got smoked in the shin by a line drive. I like to say that I lost the ball b/c the sun was going down and I couldn't see, but actually I just wasn't paying attention. I'm such a klutz, it's ridiculous. But I hit a triple, so that was cool.

2 hour Grey's Anatomy tonight! I'm excited. I think I'm more excited because my shows are all ending and I will have no more TV obligations. That means that summer is coming.... My favorite girl got booted from America's Next Top Model last night. Too bad for Brittany. I'm cheering for Renee now. She's got an edge. I like that.

So a couple of months ago, I was blog surfing and I found Gina's blog through Leah's and read one of her posts about teachers. It was so infuriating that I had to leave a long-winded comment. Anyways, the author of the original article somehow found her blog and left comments for all the comments on the post. I'm infuriated all over again. I'd leave a link so you all can read it but I don't know how to do that. So you'll have to search just like I did! If you're reading my blog, you're probably procrasinating anyways, so this is just one more thing that you can do before you get back to work!

K, time to go and make dinner for my little cutie pie. G'night all.

Go Flames Go!

2007-04-17T16:40:00.000-07:00

yes, I know they're pretty weak. At least they have been lately. They made it into the play-offs by the skin of their teeth and haven't shown up to play thus far into the play-off season. But I still have hope. And...I have tickets to the game tonight. Pretty cool if you ask me. They don't even sell tickets to the general public for play-off games. The remaining few thousand seats go into a ticket lottery and people bid on them. Crazy. So this is a major reason why I want to keep my job forever! Sporting events and concerts are a nice little perk. So tonight...they'd better win. Not that I'm a big hockey fan or anything, but the crowd is always nicer if the Flames win. And an ex-boyfriend of mine cheers for the Red Wings, so victory would just be that much sweeter.

Not much else is going on. Friday night I went out with my sister for the first time in so long. We went to the coolest little dance club called the Amsterdam Rhino. I was a bona-fide rock star. Some guy brought his bongo drums to play with the DJ and I flocked right over. I guess he thought I needed the practice b/c he let me play them all night. So much fun. I'd buy my own if they didn't cost thousands of dollars. One day I still might...

Work is ok. Crazy busy and insanely challenging. But today I got a call from the president of Canada saying I'm doing a good job, so that was kinda cool. I'd feel better if he could do something to take some of the work off my plate but I'll deal. Seriously, now I wish I was still in school. Ever notice how students are always like "oh, my life is so hard, I hate school, I have so my work to do blah, blah, blah." All I ever feel like saying is "You ain't seen nothing yet, sweetheart." Maybe it's just me. I don't know.

Cassidy's doing really well too. She's getting super excited for the summer to come so she can wear dresses and skirts. And she's psyched to go hang out with her dad in Saskatoon. I'm still trying to find a weekend sometime between now and summer when I can make the trip down to Toon Town. Not sure. I'm thinking maybe may long weekend. We'll see. I haven't even seen Leah's baby yet and she's a year old already. And I've only seen Coralee's son once and he must be three already. Yes, I'm a terrible friend.

I'm starting to like My Chemical Romance. they're not too bad. Their lyrics actually seem meaningful.

K, my date for the hockey game just showed up. GO FLAMES GO!!!!!!

Night all.

Weird Things

2007-04-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

Ok. I've been tagged. This means that I have to post 6 weird things about me and then I can tag 6 other people. Here they are in no particular order....

1. One of my biggest fears in life is being eaten alive by cockroaches. Ewwww.

2. Whenever I eat, I have to eat one thing at a time. And none of them can touch. I get freaked out if food touches, it's strange.

3. One of my favorite TV shows is still Beverly Hills 90210. I don't know if that's weird or just dorky.

4. When I'm upset I like to unwind by watching Motley Crue's Carnival of Sins DVD. Loud.

5. When I was a kid I used to play on our farming equipment way more than I played with dolls.

6. I have always wanted to be a rock star but I can't sing. Or play a musical instrument.

Okay, that's it. Sop now I tag....Amanda, Shantelle, Coralee, and those are the only people I can think of that read my blog, except Leah but she tagged me. Have fun!

For Leah

2007-03-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I haven't blogged in ages, but it's just because I really don't have much to say. I'm busy but my life is boring right now. I get up, go to work, come home and make dinner, spend some time with Cassidy then put her to bed, do homework, go to bed and do it all over again. Literally, this has been my life for the past month. But....my class is over this weekend. We have our final group case presentation on Saturday and I write my final on Sunday. Yay. Now I remember why university wasn't for me. Ummm, it's because I don't like school all that much. I am one of those people who learns from atual on the job experience. Oh yeah, here's some exciting news... I finally got my promotion. After 5 months of waiting and hearing every excuse in the book, I am now "the boss" to 4 other people. It's weird approving vacation days. So yeah, other than work and school not much else is going on.

I've been reading Leah's blog and all her friends' blogs and I hear that the Junos are coming to Saskatoon. That's pretty exciting. I'm sure a good time will be had by all and this year, I will make every effort to watch it just so I can stay in the loop. Speaking of music, I watched American Idol last night while I was finishing my case study and it is really bad this season. Sorry to anyone who likes it this time around, but I thought it was really bad. Now, I have no musical talent whatsover and I am the first to admit that so I really have no choice but to judge music by what I like. And I only liked 2 performances last night. And turns out that the one guy I liked (I think his name is Phil) is currently in the bottom 3 on the results show. And that strange pony-hawk hair guy is safe. How does that work? I don't think I'll be tuning in again. While I'm on the subject of TV... Grey's Anatomy is back to it's witty, intelligent, angst-ridden self. Very pleased to see that. That's my plug for the best show on TV. I bought my mom seasons one and two for Christmas last year so she now hosts weekly "Grey's" nights for a few of her girlfriends. It's so cool that my mom has girlfriends. She is so much happier. And it just goes to show that you can be married, have wonderful children (at least one anyway - that would be me) and still need your girlfriends to be a complete person!

i love the new Coldplay song. I don't know what it's called, but I love it.

Cassidy is going to her dad's in Saskatoon for Easter weekend, so I have a weekend to myself. I'll miss her but I'm psyched. No obligations, no responsibilities, no SCHOOL for 3 whole days. The countdown is on. I found a really beautiful church to check out on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It's my favorite service of the year, and I'm gonna go to this really beautiful old Catholic church. It'll be nice. There's something mesmerizing about old churches, I think. You can almost feel the history in them. So much joy, so much pain, so much faith.

Gwen Stefani rocks. She's so gorgeous.

I booked my trip to Jamiaca this week. (insert huge smiley face here). Anyone got 2K I can borrow?

Well, I think it's my bedtime. Lately if I go to bed any later than 10 pm, I seriously lay in bed at 6 am and try to think of a perfectly reasonable excuse not to go to work. Which would not be good with the new position and all that. It's now 10:24 pm. Good night all.

Let the Madness Begin...

2007-03-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

It's that time again. That's right folks, it's time for March Madness. I do love this time of year. I always have and probably always will. You know spring is starting when your TV is monopolized by 65 college basketball teams each shooting for the stars to reach that enviable goal... NCAA Div. 1 National Champion. I love March Madness. I think it started when I was just a little girl. My dad always watches the tournament and when I was around 5 or 6, I asked "Daddy, why do always cheer for the teams that lose?" To this day, BYU hasn't won more than a game in the biggest tournament of the year. For those of you who care, my final four this year consist of Texas, Memphis, Illinios and Florida (who I think will win again). I am still rooting for Gonzaga though. How can you not cheer for a team called Gonzaga? Tough call though, they're up against Indiana in round one. Those Hoosiers are pretty feisty. The bad part of the tournament this year....I'll be in class for most of it. Boo.

It's a new Grey's Anatomy on Thursday! Yay. Apparently, Cristina's old professor comes into town and they once had a "relationship". Should be entertaining. Grey's has a habit of really lightening the mood after a few "darker" episodes. And almost killing Meredith and then killing her mom off definately qualifies as dark. So I'm looking for lots of sarcastic humor this week.

It snowed last night. We had no snow. Not even one unmelted snowflake in my yard when I got home last night. Then I wake up (late) this morning, get ready to go in a mad panic, tell Cassidy, yes, she can wear a skirt as long as she wears tights, put my strappy sandals on and walk out the door. Lesson #1: Even if you're in a hurry to get ready, do take the 10 seconds and look out the window before getting dressed. Cassidy and I both had to change and then I spent 10 minutes brushing the foot of snow off my car. It snowed so much that it actually took 10 minutes to brush all the snow off my car. Cassidy cried when she saw all the snow. She is "so tired of all the icky snow and all she wants to do is wear a pretty dress to school." And I just washed my car on the weekend. It is now a slushy, dirty mess outside again. Sometimes Calgary weather is frustrating. But hey, if you don't like it, wait 5 minutes and it'll change.

Anyone watch The Amazing Race? I was quite disappointed Rob and Amber got eliminated. I love those two. They crack me up. Yeah, he's a tiny bit manipulative, but it's not like he's that smart. The people he manipulates are just that stupid. Oh well, my life will go on.

Ummmmmmmm... what else is going on? Not much, I guess. Cassidy got her report card this week and she has improved substantially. I'm quite proud of her. I went shopping the other day and bought her Peter Pan. Not as a bribe to do well in school, but because I love Tinker Bell. Quite the attitude on that cute little pixie.

K, time for me to go and wade through all the mucky slop so I can get my nice cream pants dry cleaned again. Ick.

Justice for Darfur

2007-03-07T08:36:00.000-08:00

This article appeared in The Washington Post just over a week ago. It's worth a read.

BAHAI, Chad -- Here, at this refugee camp on the border of Sudan, nothing separates us from Darfur but a small stretch of desert and a line on a map. All the same, it's a line I can't cross. As a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, I have traveled into Darfur before, and I had hoped to return. But the UNHCR has told me that this camp, Oure Cassoni, is as close as I can get.

Sticking to this side of the Sudanese border is supposed to keep me safe. By every measure -- killings, rapes, the burning and looting of villages -- the violence in Darfur has increased since my last visit, in 2004. The death toll has passed 200,000; in four years of fighting, Janjaweed militia members have driven 2.5 million people from their homes, including the 26,000 refugees crowded into Oure Cassoni.

Attacks on aid workers are rising, another reason I was told to stay out of Darfur. By drawing attention to their heroic work -- their efforts to keep refugees alive, to keep camps like this one from being consumed by chaos and fear -- I would put them at greater risk.
I've seen how aid workers and nongovernmental organizations make a difference to people struggling for survival. I can see on workers' faces the toll their efforts have taken. Sitting among them, I'm amazed by their bravery and resilience. But humanitarian relief alone will never be enough.

Until the killers and their sponsors are prosecuted and punished, violence will continue on a massive scale. Ending it may well require military action. But accountability can also come from international tribunals, measuring the perpetrators against international standards of justice.
Accountability is a powerful force. It has the potential to change behavior -- to check aggression by those who are used to acting with impunity. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has said that genocide is not a crime of passion; it is a calculated offense. He's right. When crimes against humanity are punished consistently and severely, the killers' calculus will change.

On Monday I asked a group of refugees about their needs. Better tents, said one; better access to medical facilities, said another. Then a teenage boy raised his hand and said, with powerful simplicity, "Nous voulons une épreuve." We want a trial. He is why I am encouraged by the ICC's announcement yesterday that it will prosecute a former Sudanese minister of state and a Janjaweed leader on charges of crimes against humanity.

Some critics of the ICC have said indictments could make the situation worse. The threat of prosecution gives the accused a reason to keep fighting, they argue. Sudanese officials have echoed this argument, saying that the ICC's involvement, and the implication of their own eventual prosecution, is why they have refused to allow U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur.
It is not clear, though, why we should take Khartoum at its word. And the notion that the threat of ICC indictments has somehow exacerbated the problem doesn't make sense, given the history of the conflict. Khartoum's claims aside, would we in America ever accept the logic that we shouldn't prosecute murderers because the threat of prosecution might provoke them to continue killing?

When I was in Chad in June 2004, refugees told me about systematic attacks on their villages. It was estimated then that more than 1,000 people were dying each week.

In October 2004 I visited West Darfur, where I heard horrific stories, including accounts of gang-rapes of mothers and their children. By that time, the UNHCR estimated, 1.6 million people had been displaced in the three provinces of Darfur and 200,000 others had fled to Chad.
It wasn't until June 2005 that the ICC began to investigate. By then the campaign of violence was well underway.

As the prosecutions unfold, I hope the international community will intervene, right away, to protect the people of Darfur and prevent further violence. The refugees don't need more resolutions or statements of concern. They need follow-through on past promises of action.
There has been a groundswell of public support for action. People may disagree on how to intervene -- airstrikes, sending troops, sanctions, divestment -- but we all should agree that the slaughter must be stopped and the perpetrators brought to justice.

In my five years with UNHCR, I have visited more than 20 refugee camps in Sierra Leone, Congo, Kosovo and elsewhere. I have met families uprooted by conflict and lobbied governments to help them. Years later, I have found myself at the same camps, hearing the same stories and seeing the same lack of clean water, medicine, security and hope.

It has become clear to me that there will be no enduring peace without justice. History shows that there will be another Darfur, another exodus, in a vicious cycle of bloodshed and retribution. But an international court finally exists. It will be as strong as the support we give it. This might be the moment we stop the cycle of violence and end our tolerance for crimes against humanity.

What the worst people in the world fear most is justice. That's what we should deliver.

By Angelina Jolie
Wednesday, February 28, 2007

the mob squad

2007-02-26T12:59:00.000-08:00

I've just always wanted to use that title in a blog. I think it sounds cool. How is everyone? It's snowing here. Again. I know I shouldn't complain about Calgary weather, because when I was living in Saskatchewan, we would get more snow in October than I've seen in the past 2 winters. But still. I've gotten spoiled, so I'm a bit upset that it's almost March and it's snowing again. But it's supposed to get nice out again by Wednesday.

I did almost nothing this weekend. It was wonderful. Friday night I went out to Strathmore to have dinner with friends. They have 2 little girls around Cassidy's age, so she loves it. They're best friends. Little Jayden (she's 4) gave Cassidy one of her bracelets and declared them friends forever. So cute. And Taija (6) is quite the little ballerina, so she teaches Cassidy all of her dance moves. They crack me up. Watching the 3 of them play together reminds me of why I want another baby someday. Of course by the time I'm ready for that to happen, Cassidy will be too old to play with it so I'll have to have 2 more. But I'm not sure if I can handle 3 kids. That's a lot of kids. But then I'll have so much more fun when they grow up. My whole life I thought I would never have kids, and now I'm talking about 3 of them? Must just be the weather. It's affecting my logic. On Saturday, we finished off the clothing drive for The Mustard Seed. We did really well, if I do say so myself. We got a ton of clothes and they were way grateful. (yes, I've been watching Clueless with Cassidy again). After the drive, Cassidy had a birthday party to go to. I hung out there with some of the parents because the house was beautiful and they had those super-yummy Koala drinks. It's always good to hang out with the parents of kids in your kids class every now and then. That way when their kid comes home saying "Cassidy kicked me today", they'll realize that we're really nice people and she may have just had an off day. Then I went shopping. I bought this cute little black purse and a really neat hat. It's got little jewel thingies in it and on the front, there is a silver symbol that kinda looks liek the one Prince used. I like it. Then I rented movies. Cassidy was dead set on watching Selena so I went to 3 different movie stores to find it. My movie wish list was quite unrealistic considering it was the day before Oscar night. However, I am quite peristent. I managed to find Babel, The Departed and The Prestige. All 3 were fantastic. I must say, Leonardo DiCaprio is turning into one of the finest actors of his generation. I'm really starting to appreciate him as an actor. Still don't really like Brad Pitt though. He didn't do much to add to Babel. Great movie, though. If you haven't seen any of the 3, please do. I loved them all.

Speaking of the Oscars... what did everyone think? Personally, I liked it. I read a lot of the reviews and lots of critics thought it was a snoozefest. I thought Ellen was fantastic. She made me laugh out loud a few times, which is something a host rarely accomplishes. It was disappointing that there were no surprises, with the exception of Eddie Murphy. And he was not happy when he lost. I guess he knows that he should stay away from Big Momma's House from now on and he may have another shot. Best moment of the evening has got to be Martin Scorcese's win. Finally. The man is a living legend. I love all the movies that he is involved in. The Color of Money, anyone??? It almost made me cry when he won and they gave him a standing ovation.

I have started studying again. Argh. Is that even a word? Argh? Anyways, I have to go back to university to get my CPP certificate, which consists of 4 classes and 12 seminar credits. Which isn't too bad, I should be able to wrap it up in just over a year. But it's a lot of work. Which I'm not crazy about. I'm taking the condensed course, so a semester's worth of class time is being squished into 2 weekends. But it's easier that way because then all I have to worry about is 4 days of baby-sitters. Of course, the down side is because there is next-to-no class time, all the pre-course work has to be done ahead of time. I got a little scared last night when I read the entire first chapter and could not answer one of the reveiw questions at the end. Not even one. So apparently I've forgotten how to study. My thoughts tend to wander. It probably didn't help that I was watching the Academy Awards at the same time. Then my thoughts turned towards Grey's Anatomy and the fact that there isn't a new episode on until March 15. Then I realized it's Tara's birthday this weekend and I have to get her a gift. I need to seperate myself from distractions and I'll probably absorb a lot more.

Wow, this was a really long blog and I didn't even have anything important or exciting to say. Guess I should wrap it up.

It's that day again.

2007-02-14T15:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am referring to Valentine's Day. I. Do. Not. Like. Valentines. Day. And that is not just becuase I am single. I think it has turned into a ridiculous, overly commerialized scam created so that Hallmark and Hershey make a killing and in return, so does your bank account. Seriously, why do we need a special day to show somebody how much we love them? I think it's sad that we put so much emphasis on Valentine's Day. However, I am a little bitter because Valentines Day is always so much worse when you're single. But... I do have Cassidy. She's a riot on Valentine's Day. Partly because she's going to come running home professing her undying love for some cute little grade one boy. It's funny. And we did order these amazing cupcakes with a crazy amount of icing for our volunteer meeting today. So it's not all bad. Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Now if I can make it home without hearing "I Will Always Love You" on the radio, I'll be happy.

Mom, Dad and Lane are coming up tomorrow. They'll be here for a few days. Tomorrow night I get the honor of taking all 3 of them to their first NHL game. It should be a blast. Lane is so excited. He'll be a little less excited when I tell him that I'm withholding the tickets until he can figure out how to wire my TV/VCR/DVD so that I can tape Grey's Anatomy and actually have it play back. I totally think that's a fair trade. Apparently, somebody dies tomorrow. An actual important character. I can't wait. Then Tara and I are taking Mom to The Oasis for pedicures on Saturday. It's this crazy fancy spa that we can only afford when we get gift certificates. So that'll be fun.

I registered for my first class today. Gulp. Back to university. But only for a few classes, so I should be able to handle it. I'm excited, actually. I love school. And when I'm done the course I'll have something to prove that I deserve more money. And more money = good.

I also got another fish today. So now I have 2 betas in my tank. It's a really cool tank. it's got a divider down the middle so they don't eat each other. this morning, they were looking pretty stressed out. They kept trying to attack each other through the glass, so I had to put in the colored divider so they don't die of heart attacks. Can fish die from heart attacks? Anyways, I named the other one Thunder. Storm and Thunder. I like my fish. Although I do still get harassed about the last fish incident I had.

I have successfully killed 1/2 an hour. I don't have to come back to work for 5 whole days! yay.

mistakes

2007-02-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

Do your mistakes define who you are? A timeless question that I don't ever think will be fully answered. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and my thoughts were brought on by the lengthly debate happening on Leah's blog. If you want to read about it, read her blog. For now, I just wanted to try and make sense of this. I think that your mistakes have to define who you are to a certain extent for the simple reason that you learn from your mistakes. Or you should, anyway. If you're incapable of learning from your mistakes, that's another conversation entirely. So now, how big do those mistakes have to be before your name is tarnished? I made a mistake 7 years ago and had unprotected sex. Now I am branded a single mother. However, I have learned from that mistake (as I still only have one child). Furthermore, I no longer see it as a mistake and stopped seeing it as a mistake the second I held Cassidy in my arms. But regardless, it was still an error in judgement. And I paid for it, believe me. Anyone who has children can attest to that. I guess my point is that nobody should be held in such high regard that they are not accountable for their actions. If you make a mistake, you pay for it. If you break the law, you're punished and you have a criminal record. Maybe I'm just not open minded enough, but in my opinion, I think this this is fairly straightforward. The extent of the penance for your mistakes is what I consider gray matter. Am I way off base here? I don't know. Sigh.

Anyway. I had my first annual performance evaluation this morning. I "exceeded expectations". Woo hoo!!! Hopefully that means my salary will now exceed my expectations. Then maybe I'd actually be able to do some of the things I've been wanted to do for ages. Like go back to Saskatoon for a few days to visit the only people who read my blog! that would be nice. I want to go to Poverino's. I love that place and I haven't found one in Calgary yet. I haven't looked very hard, though. I did discover Chuck E. Cheese's recently. And made the mistake of telling Cassidy that I discovered Chuck E. Cheese's. So we went. And she had a great time, so it was worth it. But I do not recommend it. It took us an hour to even get in and get a table. The food is below average and expensive. I spent $50 for just me and her and all we got out of the deal was a couple pieces of soggy pizza and a silver plastic magic wand.

I have recently discovered the joy of Reese's Pieces Ice Cream.

Tonight is my favorite TV night of the week. The OC and Grey's Anatomy. I think I'm gonna make some popcorn and enjoy. Bye!!!

Getting to know your friends

2007-02-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

I love these things.

Welcome to the new edition of getting to know your friends. Okay here's what
you're supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun!
Just copy this entire e-mail and paste into a new e-mail
that you can send Change all the answers so that they apply to you.

1. What is your occupation? Purchaser and mom
2. What color are your socks right now? Black
3. What are you listening to right now? Nothing. All is quiet on the 17th floor this morning. Or perhaps that is just because my ears are permanently plugged from the lovely cold I've been trying to fight off all week. For the record, I'm losing the fight.
4. What was the last thing that you ate? I don't remember. I haven't eaten much in the last couple days. I have been drinking a lot of tea though. Right now, it's orange and spice.
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Not well. But yeah, I know the basics.
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Some kind of funky blue or orange. Wait, I got it. I'd invent a crayon where the wax is 2 different colors and they kind of swirl together so when you use the crayon, you get a streak of 2 different colors. How cool would that be? Then I would definitely be blue and orange. Or maybe blue and silver. I'll give you a definite answer if I am ever actually in danger of becoming a crayon.
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Tara.
9. How old are you today? 26 all day.
10. Favorite drink: lately it's been Neo-Citrin. But under normal circumstances it's wine in the winter, gin in the summer. and weather does not discriminate against Jagerbombs.
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? The Olympics, the World Series and Super Bowl. Go Colts.
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes. I've had a few doozies.
14. Pets? A pet fish at work named Storm 2. I killed Storm 1. Not on purpose though. And Storm 2 may die soon as well if I don't change his water. Today.
15. Favorite food? cheese
16. What was the last movie you watched? In the theatre it was Happy Feet with Cassidy. On DVD it was All The Kings Men (really good show). On VHS it was Armageddon and on TV it was Look Who's Talking.
17. Favorite day of the year? I usually say today, but it's definitely not today so I'm gonna go with my birthday.
18. What do you do to vent anger? Yell, listen to Motley Crue, drink. Wow, I'm pretty self-destructive. Good thing I'm a lover, not a fighter.
19. What was your favorite toy as a child? My pretty blue porcelain doll. That was a jab at Tara who broke it. Seriously, I can't remember. Probably our John Deere combine.
20. What is your favorite Fall or Spring? Spring. I hate snow. And it all goes away in spring.
21 Hugs or kisses? Both.
22. Cherry or Blueberry? Cherry
26. Living arrangements? Just me and Cassidy
27. When was the last time you cried? Yesterday watching Armageddon.
28. What is on the floor of your closet? Lots of crap.
29. Who is the friend(s) you have had the longest? Tara, Allison, Tanya, Sheri
30. What did you do last night? Watched Grey's Anatomy, chugged back some Nyquil and went to bed around 8:30.
31. Favorite smell(s)? rain, my mom's house b/c she's usually cooking, Tara's lasagna, men's cologne, Cassidy's bubble bath.
32. What inspires you? Good parents, success stories, my boss, women executives, my friends, most of my family and Tommy Lee.
33. What are you afraid of? I have an irrational fear of car accidents.
34. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Double cheese.
35. Favorite car? Of all time? I don't know. Nor do I care. Cars are not my thing. See #33. But if I had to choose, I'd pick the red convertible in Warrant's Cherry Pie video. I can see most of you nodding and saying to yourself "Yes, that was a hot car." If anyone actually knows what kind of car that was, please let me know so I can just skip this whole explanation thing on the next quiz I fill out and just put down the name of the car. Thanks.

Mean People Suck

2007-01-29T11:47:00.000-08:00

They really do. I don't have much to say today except that mean people really do suck. I bought Cassidy the movie Mean Girls for Christmas and we watch it quite regularly. It may be a bit age inappropriate but the message it gives outweighs the couple of scenes I'd rather she didn't see. Calling somebody fat doesn't make you any thinner and calling somebody stupid doesn't make you any smarter. Certianly, trying to hurt somebody else shouldn't make you any happier and if it does, than you need to do some serious soul searching and find out why that is the case. Why is it that so many people take their misery and self-loathing out on other people? An anonymous blogger has decided to try and make themselves happy by leaving hurtful and disgusting comments on some of my friends' blogs. Thankfully, they're the kind of people who recognize the behavior for what it's worth and chose to disregard the statements. It still stings a bit though, I'm sure. I've had my share of run-ins with mean bloggers and it's not fun. So what is the point? Didn't your mother ever teach you that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all? It's really frustrating trying to be a good person in today's world. You try to make a difference, try to help others and in return you get slammed by some cowardly jerk who won't even leave a name to go with the hateful words. However, it is comforting to know that everyone will be judged accordingly in the end. Their judgement day will come once they're gone from this earth and anyone who doesn't believe that is just kidding themselves.

Moving on. It's awards season! I love awards season. I'm not sure why, but I really do love these awards shows. Golden Globes, Grammys, Emmys, SAG and the Oscars. Last night, Grey's Anatomy won the SAG award for best ensemble cast and Chandra Wilson won Best Supporting Actress. That makes me happy. I know that most of them are fixed and the deserving nominee rarely wins, but I love them nonetheless. Speaking of TV, the greatest thing happened a couple weeks ago. You know that time slot between 6 and 7 pm when nothing is on TV and you're almost done supper and there is really nothing to do? Some genious TV network (TVtropolis) decided to start showing reruns of Beverly Hills 90210. It was my all-time favorite show when I was a teenager and it is a riot watching those reruns. I've said it before and will say it again, it really doesn't take much to make me happy at all.

I'm organizing a clothing drive with a friend of mine to benefit The Mustard Seed. Any Calgarians reading this, let me know. They take adult and childrens clothes and they don't have to be sorted at all. We're also doing a cell phone drive. We take old cell phones, clear them and donate them to the women's shelter. That way, if you're ever in trouble, you have a cell phone to call 911. It's a lot better than just throwing those old cell phones away. I think that's about all I've got going on for the next couple months in terms of volunteer activities.

I'm pretty psyched for Super Bowl Sunday. Go Colts. That's all I have to say about that.

Does anyone watch 7th Heaven? I used to watch it all the time and last season was apparently the last season. They were advertising for the series finale and everything. Then, last night I was flipping through the channels and saw a preview for an "all new" episode. What's up with that?

Anyways, gotta run. It's only 1 pm. This day is taking forever.....

going places

2007-01-19T12:09:00.000-08:00

So I bought a new car. Not brand new, but new to me. My uncle just bought a brand new Cadillac (it's pretty slick), so my aunt is now driving his old Intrepid and they sold me her old Mercury Sable for a ridiculously low price. I still like my little Firefly better, but this one is way more reliable and I can actually take it on the highway and drive faster than 100 km/hr without feeling like the car will fall apart. And it has one of those funky remote starters, which is very cool because nothing makes me more miserable than going outside in the winter to start the car. I'm not a morning person at all. So it's nice getting into a toasty warm car in the morning. My mom is all excited about it because this means I can drive myself home to the farm and stay for however long I want without having to work around the work schedules of my sister and brother-in-law.

I'm going to Jamaica!!! Yay. This will be my first "real" vacation ever. So exciting. One of my girlfriends is getting married down there in November, so I'm totally going. I'm not good at saving money, so I'm nervous. But I reeaaalllllly want to go. I have to put away around $400 a month until September so all of my impulse shopping is going to have to stop now. Consider it stopped! I think I need an overseas vacation. There's my justification, I need it for my mental health. And I want to meet a cute Jamaican boy and kiss him on the beach at sunset. How old am I? I thought that as "women", we were supposed to stop having these fantasies around the age of 16. Guess not. Probably because when I was 16, my vacations consisted of maybe one day trip a year to Katepwa Lake. Not exactly a prime location for romance.

Anyone watch Grey's Anatomy last night? I'm sure most of you did, because I can't imagine anyone not wanting to watch that show. How many times did I cry? I think it was around six. When George was yelling at Bailey and Richard, I almost bawled. And then when the family was deciding whether or not to take him off life support and they all looked to George, I pretty much lost it. How much does everyone dread having to make that decision? Kudos to TR Knight, what a phenomenal performance on last night's episode. And for the record, I think that although Alex and Addison would have the most beautiful babies in the world, the whole thing just strikes me as kind of....ewwww. Love that show. Other than The OC, it is the only show I watch regularly. I like to be picky about what shows I give my time to. And they're cancelling The OC. Sucks. I think it's better now that they killed off Marissa than it ever was before. Sorry if this offends anyone, but I really didn't think that Mischa Barton was a good actress at all. Ironically, her best scene in all 3 seasons was the scene where she died. K, enough about TV, real life - more important.

Congrats to my cousin, Dr. Dave and his wife, Dr. Lisa on the birth of baby #1, little Ava Hope. Isn't that a pretty name? Ava Hope Stoll. It's got a ring to it.

K, I gotta get back to work. Here's a cute picture of Cassidy and her step-sister, Kiyra. Have a great weekend, everyone.

She's a star

2007-01-16T16:20:00.000-08:00

So I love Amy Lee. Love, love, love her. If I could be any rock star in the world, I would be Amy Lee. We saw Evanescence last night and they were amazing. That woman has such an incredibly powerful voice, I couldn't believe it. She kind of stole the show as soon as she walked onstage. She can sing, she can rock, she's got it all. It was one of the better concerts I've seen. The set was short, just over an hour, but I heard My Immortal so I was happy. And Bring Me To Life has been one of my favorite songs since it was released, so it was really great to see her perform it live. I love Evanescence, if you ever get the chance to see them live, do it! You will not regret it. Stone Sour opened for them and they were great too. The only song I've heard of theirs before last night is that one that's always on the radio. I was quite impressed. They rocked as well. All in all, it was a great night of music.

indulgences

2007-01-13T19:34:00.000-08:00

So today was a very exciting day in my world. I went shopping. That's right, that is why I am excited. I know it's not much to be excited about but I'm excited anyways. I went to Home Outfitters (love that store) and spent way too much money and it was awesome. Cassidy is still a little choked because I didn't buy her anything but she's dealing with it. I bought new sheets (finally). Last year for Christmas I got this gorgeous comforter from my parents and it's kind of a beige and chocolate brown color and the only sheets I had were blue. horrid, I know. So today I bought brand new, 400 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets. It's only 8:30 and I want to go to bed! And I bought new towels. I got those huge, fluffy bath sheets and bath towels and hand towels and by that time I decided that I just didn't like the shade of blue my bathroom was decorated in so I had to get new mats and everything. My bathroom just got a little facelift. I also got a new blanket for my new couch. I got new furniture last month, so had to get a couch blanket to go with it. And I got a new phone. This one was actually almost a necessity. It was to the point where I could not talk on the phone for longer than 10 minutes without the battery running out. So I needed a new one. Wow, I was just reading through this and would like to clarify that I'm really not that spoiled at all. I rarely spend money on myself, most of it goes to bills and Cassidy, so today was a special little treat!

After my shopping spree, I took Cassidy to the theatre to see Happy Feet. Really cute show to take your kids to if anyone is interested! I think kids movies might be one of my favorite things about being a mom. I love kids movies, especially in theatres. But even better than the actual movie were the previews. Well, one preview in particular. It's only January and they're already showing previews for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. So psyched. I think I actually whooped and clapped when the preview came on (cringe). But I didn't care. I am obsessed with Harry Potter these days. Ever since JK Rowling announced the title of book seven. It'll be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for anyone who cares. Anyways, I am waiting with bated breath for the announcement of the release date of book 7 and also for July 13 when The Order of the Phoenix is out in theatres. I get little butterflies just thinking about it. It really doesn't take much to make me happy. After the movie, we went to Chuck E. Cheese's. I've never been there before and it was ridiculously fun. Ridiculously expensive, but fun nonetheless.

I'm listening to the Rockstar Supernova cd and i must say I'm disappointed. It's really not very remarkable at all. There are a few decent tracks but for the most part, I don't think the group was successful in reaching their goal, which was to release music that was revolutionary. I think Tommy should leave that to Motley.

Anyways, friends, I'm off to pour myself a glass of wine, cuddle under my new couch blanket and watch The Devil Wears Prada. Take care & God bless.

luv,
meg.

Another year come and gone...

2007-01-02T14:52:00.000-08:00

And it's been a busy one. I've decided to take Leah's idea and do a year in review. So here goes...
January: I really can't remember. I believe this is when I decided I may want to leave Haworth to get out of a dead-end job and a horribly irritating ex-boyfriend. Never date a co-worker. Just my advice.
February: Not a great month. I was offered a job with Halliburton, but the same day I found out I had gotten the job, we got a call that my grandpa was sick. He had a perforated bowel and was rushed to ICU. After a couple weeks of surgeries and trips back to Saskatchewan, he passed away.
March: My first trip to Houston! It was my first international business trip and was a lot of fun.
April: My last day at Haworth and my first day at Halliburton.
May: My friend's baby, Saren was born. I can't remember the day for the life of me, but I'm pretty sure it was early May. It could have been late May... I'll have to ask for a reminder. I'm a terrible friend, I know.
June: My 26th birthday on the 17th. We had a party at Tara and Dave's until the early hours of the morning. My cousin, Ajay, graduated and we went to visit the Schutz family out at Echo Lake for July long weekend.
July: Stampede. Enough said. And my cousin, Michael got married to his beautiful bride, Erinn.
August: Kokanee Glacier Challenge in Revelstoke on the long weekend. Too much fun to be allowed. My Aunt Rita & Uncle Wayne's 25th wedding anniversary.
September: Cassidy's 6th birthday and she started Grade One. Something else important happened in September, but I can not remember what.
October: Would you beleive I can remember what happened in February and March, but not October? I'm losing my mind. I went to a few cool shows and concerts in October, I know that much.
November: Motley Crue and Aerosmith! My cousin, Andrew got married to Jana.
December: 4 Christmas parties, 2 concerts, a play, 2 charity volunteer events and Christmas.

I'm glad that the holidays are over for another year. While I always enjoy them when they're here, December is so exhausting. We had a really good Christmas and New Year's though. This year, we decided to switch it up a bit and went to a masquerade ball at The Warehouse, an alternative/electro/techno/indie rock club. It was lots of fun. We made our own masks. I'll post a picture once we get them downloaded. I am not glad however, that I am back at work today. My 10 days off just flew by. I am almost done with my 2006 scrapbook though. I only have a few pages left to do and it's on to 2007. All of my work deadlines are completed and I'm ready to tackle my upcoming promotion, which should be effective January 15th.

For 2007, I wish you all.... love and peace.

Teach the Children

2006-12-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

Just a week before Christmas I had a visitor. This is how it happened. I had just finished the household chores for the night and was preparing to go to bed, when I heard a noise in the front of the house. I opened the door to the front room, and to my surprise, Santa himself stepped out from behind the Christmas tree. He placed his finger over his mouth so I would not cry out.
"What are you doing?" I started to ask.

The words choked up in my throat, and I saw that he had tears in his eyes. His usual jolly manner was gone. Gone was the eager, boisterous soul we all know. He then answered me with a simple statement: "TEACH THE CHILDREN!"
I was puzzled, what did he mean?
He anticipated my question, and with one quick movement brought forth a miniature toy bag from behind the tree. As I stood bewildered, Santa said, "Teach the children. Teach them the real meaning of Christmas. The meaning of Christmas that nowadays has been forgotten."

Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a FIR TREE and placed it before the mantle. Teach the children that the pure green color of the stately fir tree remains green all year round, depicting the everlasting hope of mankind. All the needles point Heavenward, making it a symbol of man's thoughts turning toward Heaven.

He again reached into his bag and pulled out a brilliant STAR. Teach the children that the star was the Heavenly sign of promises long ago. God promised a Savior for the world, and the star was the sign of the fulfillment of His promise.

He then reached into his bag and pulled out a CANDLE. Teach the children that the candle symbolizes that Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this great light, we are reminded of He who displaces the darkness.

Once again he reached into his bag and removed a WREATH and placed it on the tree. Teach the children that the wreath symbolizes the real nature of love Christ showed for us. Real love never ceases. Love is one continuous round of affection.

He then pulled from his bag an ornament of HIMSELF. Teach the children that I, Santa Claus, symbolize the generosity and good will we feel during the month of December.

He then brought out a HOLLY LEAF. Teach the children that the holly plant represents immortality. It represents the crown of thorns worn by our Savior. The red holly berries represent the blood that He shed for us.

Next he pulled from his bag a GIFT and said, "Teach the children that God so loved the world that whoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life." (John 3:16) Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. Teach the children that the wise men bowed before the Holy Babe and presented Him with gold, frankincense and myrrh. We should always give gifts in the same spirit of the wise men.

Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a CANDY CANE and hung it on the tree. Teach the children that the candy cane represents the shepherd's crook. The crook on the staff helps to bring strayed sheep back to the flock. The candy cane is the symbol that we are our brother's keeper.

He reached in again and pulled out an ANGEL. Teach the children that it was the angels that heralded the glorious news of the Savior's birth. The angels sang "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will."

Suddenly I heard a soft tinkling sound, and from his bag he pulled out a BELL. Teach the children that as the lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it should bring mankind to the fold. The bell symbolizes guidance and return.

Santa looked around and was pleased. He looked back at me and I saw that the twinkle was back in his eyes. He said, "Remember, TEACH THE CHILDREN the true meaning of Christmas and do not put me in the center for I am but a humble servant of the One that is, and I bow down to worship Him, Our Lord, Our God, and Savior.

Craziness

2006-12-12T14:24:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody. Hee Hee. Every time I say that, it reminds me of that children's book "The Monster at the End of This Book" starring lovable, furry old Grover. I love that book. It's so fun to read. If you haven't bought it for your kids yet, do!!! It's a riot.

So we have had a crazy weekend. The Halliburton Christmas party was on Friday night. It was nice, but speeches were way too long. And the entire time we could hear the music thumping from the party next door. Those people at World Health Club know how to have a good time. They had a disco Christmas party. How cool is that? We crashed it after dinner was over. There is something about dancing to Funky Town in an evening gown that is just way too much fun. We had a dinner party at my friend Christine's on Saturday night. I finally saw her gorgeous engagement ring and she asked me to be her maid of honor at their wedding in August. I'm so happy for her. She's one of those people that just never has anything work out in their favor. And she's starting to turn her life around, so I'm really proud of her.

Sunday was a pretty big day for us. We volunteered at the Christmas Splendor Feed the Needy banquet and it was a huge success. We fed over 3500 people in under an hour and handed out almost 1000 gifts to the children. Every year, that event amazes me in so many ways. It's incredible how many people show up to help out. Halliburton had a group of 63 volunteers alone. The amount of food it takes to feed all these people is shocking and the fact that complete strangers pull together for an afternoon to pull the event off is really great. The organization it must take to coordinate an event like this just blows my mind. It's really fulfilling to help out and give people food, but at the same time the sheer volume of people who had to attend this banquet to get a hot meal is really sobering. A good friend of mine volunteered with us on Sunday and it was his first time at an event like this. After we were done, I could tell he was just really bummed out. He said is was just way too sad to watch the families coming in to get food because they couldn't buy it on their own. And yes, it is incredibly sad, but one person can only do what one person can do. You can't save everyone at once. You can help by donating time and money. Without that, and without concerned citizens, the situation would be so much worse. So I think that put a positive spin on things for him. I hope, anyways. It's like Margaret Meade said "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

I am completely exhausted today because we went to the Crue and Aerosmith last night. Wow, what a show! The Crue was great, because they're always great. Lots of lights and fire and explosions and smoke and best of all....really, really loud music. The best part of the Crue portion.... Home Sweet Home. Vince handed it over to the crowd which was probably a good thing, because his voice just ain't what it used to be. And I'll never get over how cool it looks and sounds when 20000 people are singing at the top of their lungs waving lighters and cell phones. I love it. And it was Nikki Sixx's birthday yesterday too. Very good showing by the Crue. With that being said, I must admit that it was Aerosmith who floored me last night. I've never been a huge Aerosmith fan, but they are amazing performers. It took about 1/2 hr after Motley Crue to tear down their stage and set up for Aerosmith, but it was worth the wait. They had a walk out stage into the middle of the floor and 2 ramps that went up each side. We had seats in row 6 so we got a few close ups of the group. They had no crazy lights or explosions, just a lot of incredible performing. Steven Tyler (no matter how many times I've made fun of him in the past) is so charismatic. It was hard to take your eyes off of him. The crowd was insane, singing every word along with him. He hasn't lost much over the years, his voice will still give you chills. My favorite part of the Aerosmith portion.... Cryin. All I could picture was Alicia Silverstone in that video! It's a classic. And my favorite part of the entire show.... Dream On. That song was the best live performance I have ever seen. Hands down.

Today's thought for the day... Patience is needed with everyone, but first of all with ourselves.

Sing with me, sing for the years
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, if its just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away...

At the end of the day...

2006-12-06T15:08:00.001-08:00

The end of the work day is drawing closer and closer... It has been an exhausting week. We've uncovered some issues that have been happening for quite some time and I'm afraid the potential impact could be catastrophic. So all of my time and energy this week has been devoted to uncovering what has been going on. It wouldn't be so bad if that were all, but every time I uncover one issue, 6 more pop up. It's a long and convoluted process and I'm afraid no end is in sight. Sigh. I'm tired.

On a brighter note, we had a fantastic weekend! Operation Christmas Child on Saturday went really well. It was my first event that I coordinated as co-chair of our volunteer council and the president of our company came out to show his support. Very exciting. Here's a picture of the group that came out. We sorted through 11, 020 shoe boxes and got them all ready to ship to Nigeria in our 4 hour shift. Not too bad at all. It's really touching to see some of the items in the boxes. People really put a lot of thought into these gifts. There were a few boxes that almost made me cry! After that, we headed down south to my Aunt's to do her Christmas decorating. Every year she bribes us (as is me, Dave, Tara & Cassidy) with food. And this year was soooooo worth it. She made home made perogies, cabbage rolls, meat balls and the list goes on. It was quite the feast. Mmmmm. On Sunday, we went to the Halliburton kids Christmas party. It was a lot of fun, they do a really good job. All the kids got gifts, there was skating and cookie decorating and sleigh rides. Cassidy loved it. Here's a picture of her with her friends Jenna and Braden decorating cookies. Isn't Jenna adorable? She may be the cutest 3 year old I know. Cassidy is trying to show me how red her tongue was from all the Skittles she ate. What a goofball. After the party, we went to see Aladdin at the Jubilee Auditorium. We had really great seats, in the third row. It was so good. It wasn't the Disney version, which I was a bit concerned about but it was really outstanding nonetheless. There was a ton of singing and dancing and thankfully they didn't give Bret Hart too many lines... He's a wonderful WWF entertainer, but not much of an actor. The cast was so interactive with the audience too so the kids got really involved in the show. It was a lot of fun. On Monday, I had a "Festive Ladies Night" hosted by one of my suppliers at Q Haute restaurant. It's the old La Caille on the Bow. So yummy. It may have been the best food I've ever had! And we each got a box of Bernard Callibaut chocolates to take home with us! I think that was my favorite part. Tomorrow is Cassidy's Christmas concert at her school. Friday is my Christmas party. Saturday we have a dinner party to go at a friends house, Sunday we're volunteering at the Christmas Splendor Feed the Needy banquet and Monday is The CRUE!!!!!! Yay. So it'll be another busy weekend but we can cap it off with a visit to Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx. That makes me happy.

Not too much else is going on. Take care everyone!

Human or Divine???

2006-11-28T14:42:00.000-08:00

So right from the start, I know this blog may upset some people, but I wanted to discuss it anyways. I read The Da Vinci Code quite some time ago, but just recently watched the movie again. And again and again and again. And it poses a very interesting theory. What if Jesus was just an ordinary man? What if he did father a child? What if there are documents and evidence in existence that proves this theory? What would happen then? There are one billion Catholics in the world today. What would happen if they were told that everything they believed in was a lie? Could you imagine the catastrophic wars this could cause? It would spark millions of debates that "My God is better than your God", etc. Political unrest would reach unimaginable levels and perhaps the Apocolypse would no longer be another theory...

If you are interested in history, especially religious history, you will know that many scholars and historians argue that the Bible was written by man, and man alone. It has gone through many, many translations over the years and is considered by many to be an inaccurate summary of events that transpired during Jesus' time on earth. There are allegedly Gospels that have been left out of the Bible because they directly contradict what the people are supposed to believe. In one of these Gospels, it says that Mary Magdalene was a companion of Jesus. Companion, in those days, meaning spouse. It also says that Jesus used to kiss her on the mouth, making his other disciples jealous and posing the question "Why does he love her more than he loves us?" Now, if the purpose of putting humans on earth is to "be fruitful and multiply", what would be wrong with Jesus fathering a child? Would it make him any less of a great man? Any less worthy of eternal love and devotion from Christian men and women across the world?

I believe that what people crave is acceptance. In their families, their social lives, their work lives, and their spiritual lives. If you found acceptance in any or all of those areas, you're very lucky. There are millions of people who are less fortunate. If you've found your place within Christianity, would it make a difference to you if in fact, Jesus had fathered a child with Mary Magdalene? After all, accepting Christianity means that you already have blind faith. You believe in immaculate conception and that is physically not possible. So would you be angry at being deceived by history? Or would you continue to have faith in what you've always believed? I think in the end, all that matters is what you believe.

Thoughts?

Pictures!!!!

2006-11-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

It's been a really long time since I've posted pictures, so here goes... To the left is Cassidy with her Uncle Lane. This was taken around 1:30 am so she was pretty tired. Below is my cousin Lara and her fiance Bryce. They're so happy and you can tell. She's just glowing. Below them is my other cousin, Chad and his fiance, Katherine. I think she is so gorgeous. Chad has done well for himself! Below them is Andrew and his new bride, Jana. I love her dress, she looks like Cinderella at her ball! Underneath them is Michael and his new wife, Erinn. They were married in Melfort during the summer. Michael is going through his residency in Saskatoon right now and Erinn calls him her "McDreamy". Awwww.

Here are some pictures that I took in Houston at the Astros game. The first one is of the scoreboard. Very exciting, I know. But they have this song about Texas that everyone sings during the seventh inning stretch. Americans are patriotic, but Texans are insanely patriotic! It was really amazing to see. Beside that is just a shot of the sunset over the wall at Minute Maid Park. Houston is so beautiful, I really do think I may transfer there for a year or two. Below that is a picture of the ballpark from across the street. I can't wait until next spring so I can go to another game! Beside that is a pic of Tara, Lara and me taken last weekend at the wedding. Not a great picture, but that's okay. And last but not least is Cassidy at Halloween with her friends at their school dance. It's not a coincidence that they're all princesses. They've had it planned for months. Crazy kids. Anyways, that's all for now!

And they lived happily ever after...

2006-11-20T07:28:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. Happy Monday! I'm so tired today that it's going to be tough to function. But I get to sit in a meeting from 9-3 so it won't be too emotionally draining. We did a lot of driving this weekend. It was so busy. First of all, I apologize to all my friends in Saskatoon that I said I would try to go see. We had no time to spare this weekend. We got up early on Saturday, drove down to Saskatoon and got ready for the wedding and left. We forgot about the time change, so we had an hour less than we thought we were going to have. Then we came back on Sunday. Not a lot of sleep and too much driving for my liking, so I'm pretty tired today. Poor Cassidy was walking around like a zombie this morning.

The wedding was fantastic! Jana is so amazingly creative. Andrew even admitted that he had very little to do with it, Jana was the mastermind behind the event. It was at the Odeon Event Centre and it was a Cinderella theme. They had clips of "romantic" movies on the screen before the ceremony began so people wouldn't get bored. I guess Wedding Crashers and Old School aren't really romantic movies, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. And Jana looked gorgeous, just like a fairy tale princess! They wrote their own vows and made everyone cry. Maybe not everyone, but they made me cry. Cassidy was so excited because they had pictures of her and Andrew on their slide-show presentation. She's his God-Daughter, so she felt a little like a celebrity. It was quite funny. When Jana threw her bouquet, one of the bridesmaids caught it and gave it to Cassidy. She honestly has not put it down since! And it was so great to see everyone again. David and Lisa are doing great, their baby is due in six weeks and she looks wonderful. Michael and Erinn are deleriously happy and still in their newlywed phase. Chad and Kat and Lara and Bryce are both starting their wedding plans and are so excited. I saw some old friends from high school as well. Everyone seems to be doing really well. I took lots of pictures, so I'll post some as soon as I can. And for anyone visiting Saskatoon or anyone that lives there.... if you have never been to the brunch buffet at the Parktown Hotel, make sure you make a point to check it out soon! It is phenomenal. My diet went straight out the window on Sunday morning. They actually have a chocolate fountain. Yum.

So my work pet fish died on Friday. I shouldn't say "died". I should include that I assisted. I'm still a little disturbed by the whole incident. I took him into the kitchen to clean his bowl because it was getting a bit rank. I kind of overshot the cup and he flopped into the sink. I am unreasonably terrified of fish. Touching fish anyway. They creep me out. So I kept putting water on him to keep him alive until somebody a little less neurotic came to help me. By that time, he was kind of wedged into one of the drain holes and ended up falling down the drain. I was dangerously close to tears. So now I have to get a new fish. I was really bummed out about it.

Operation Christmas Child is going really well so far. I got all 20 of my volunteers signed up for the sorting night at the warehouse on Dec. 2. It'll be fun. It's really interesting to see the kinds of gifts that some families put together for children in need. A lot of though goes into those little shoeboxes, it's great to see. And we collected about fifty filled shoeboxes at my office so it's working out well so far. I'm also thinking about going to Cassidy's school to see if they would be willing to help me do a drive for the Mustard Seed, a local non-profit ministry that provides food, shelter, clothing, and financial/emotional/spiritual guidance to street people in the city. I know her school has supported the Mustard Seed in the past, so I'm hoping they'll be willing to help out again this year.

Not much else is going on. I'm thinking of buying a new car. My car is ready to die on me. In all fairness to my car, it is 10 years old and it's a Firefly to begin with. It's been a good car but I think it's time to move on. Dave and Tara have been great with helping out and bringing me and Cassidy with them on road trips, but I'm starting to get tired of relying on them for my travel needs. We'll be doing so much driving this spring/summer that I think it's time. I'm looking at either a PT Cruiser or a Volkswagon Jetta. Not sure yet, I'll keep you posted. Anyways, time to go to my all-day meeting. Bye!

Just an Update

2006-11-09T07:54:00.000-08:00

Sigh. Long weekend coming up. I'm excited. I've been fighting a cold for the past week, so it'll be nice to have a few days off. I booked tomorrow off as well, so I have a 4 day weekend. Yay. Of course, being sick means un-motivated so I'm not sure how much I'm going to accomplish until my head stops feeling like a basketball. But nothing cures a cold like a day on the couch watching soap operas! I do love Days of our Lives.

I was thinking of taking Cassidy roller-skating this weekend. How fun would that be??!!! I've never been roller-skating and I really want to try it. So maybe that'll be my adventure for the week. It'll be nice to spend some quality time with her now because there is so much happening over the next couple of months. Starting with.... Andy and Jana's wedding!!! Next weekend in Saskatoon at the Odeon. I'm so excited. I think they have it all done up like Cinderella at the ball. At least, that's what the invitations portrayed. Either way, it'll be a lot of fun and I can't wait to see them get married. My cousins are crazy right now! David and Lisa are expecting their first baby around January, Michael and Erinn got married in July, Andrew and Jana next weekend and then next summer, Chad and Kat and Lara and Bryce are getting married within a month of each other. Tons of stuff going on in that family. But good things happen to good people, I'm very excited for all of them! I'll post some pictures of the wedding when I get back.

Before the wedding of course is the big game on Sunday. How about those Roughriders! I managed to grab some company tickets to the last game and took my aunt, who is the biggest Rider fan I have ever met. I think I will now be her favorite niece forever! It was a great game last Sunday and we had amazing seats. 40 yard line, row 7, right behind the Rider bench. Cassidy loved it because she could walk down to the front and watch the cheerleaders. Aunt Bridget and I loved it because we could hear/see everything! Dave I'm not so sure about... He was pretty neutral all game. He's an Alberta boy, but you just have to love the Riders. Anyways, we had a great time and their big win just made it even better. I think it may be their year... finally! But being a true Rider fan, I am ready to say "Maybe next year."

What else is going on.... We're going to see Evanescence in January. That should be a good show. I love Amy Lee, she's got such an amazing voice. And I'm taking Cassidy to see the theatre production on Aladdin at the beginning of December. We're both really excited about that. Bret the Hitman Hart is playing the Genie! Should be a good time.

We're also pretty busy with the Volunteer Council right now. I'm co-chair of the council, so it's craziness right now. Coming up, we have a clothing drive for Inn From the Cold, which is a fantastic organization that feeds/clothes needy people and also gives them shelter through local hotels and churches. I'm organizing our Operation Christmas Child event this year, which is run through Samaritan's Purse, and involves sending Christmas gifts to children in third world countries. We've also got the annual Christmas Splendor feed the needy banquet as well. It's put on at the Telus Convention Centre and sponsored by local churches. We feed over 5000 people and hand out clothing and gifts to the kids. As wonderful as the Christmas season is, it breaks my heart because there are so many people who just don't have the luxury of being able to enjoy Christmas. But we do what we can.

Anyways, I have to run now. Have a great Remembrance Day long weekend, everyone!
luv,
meg

Tis the Season???

2006-11-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last blog so I thought I should post again. Not much is really going on these days. Nothing new and exciting anyways. It's really hard to believe that it is already November and Christmas is less than 2 months away. Craziness. I haven't even thought about it yet. But there is a lot going on between now and then. 5 Christmas parties, 3 concerts/plays, 2 volunteer events and a wedding. I love the Christmas season, but it's really exhausting.

So Halloween was a lot of fun. Cassidy was (surprise, surprise) a princess. She was Genevieve from Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses. I have pictures and I'll post them whenever I get around to downloading them. She was really adorable, even if she didn't go for my Tinkerbell idea. I love Tinkerbell. I think the only reason I like Halloween is that it is the only day of the year that I can dress her up and do her make up and have it be socially acceptable. She had a Halloween dance at her school on Friday that I took her to. So much fun. Put 60 elementary school kids in a dark gym with loud music.... pure entertainment. Everyone had a great time and the kids were so cute.

Tonight is the biggest TV night ever!!!! Okay, maybe not ever, but I'm still excited. It's the season premiere of The OC and I'm curious to see how they handle the death of Marissa. And it's a new episode of Grey's Anatomy, my new favorite TV show of all time. My aunt got me hooked on it a month ago and this past weekend (don't laugh) I watched the entire first 2 seasons on DVD. Yes, I know I'm a dork. It's my guilty pleasure, I can't help it. I was even almost convinced that I wanted to go to med school and become a surgeon. And then rationalized with myself that just because I would be a surgeon doesn't mean I would get my McDreamy. Anyways, it's a great show and I love it.

That's about all I have to say. Big game this weekend.... GO RIDERS!!!!!

Crue!!!!

2006-10-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

Yay!!!! The Motley Crue and Aerosmith Route of all Evil tour is coming to Calgary on December 11!!!!! Tickets went on sale 14 minutes ago and appear to be sold out already but we would not be denied! We got level 1 seats beside the stage. I'm so excited, it's ridiculous. Anyone who knows me knows what a freak I am when it comes to the Crue. And I haven't seen Aerosmith live before, so that'll be good too. What an awesome way to start the week. Wicked. So in the spirit of the Crue, here's a shot of me, Tara and Mighty Mike, the concert "little person" taken when we saw them in Saskatoon. And one of Tommy Lee. He is beautiful. Life is good, we're going to the Crue!!!

Judgement Day

2006-10-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last blog, but nothing is really going on these days. Cirque de Soleil was incredible, i absolutely loved it. If you get the chance to see it live, please do! It's really spectacular. Work is still busy. I put together a proposal for my boss on the restructuring of my department, and I think he's going to go for it. It's a pretty exciting opportunity for me. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Why is it that the more money you make, the more you spend? I'm not talking about myself here, but I've noticed it a lot lately. I know people who have started their careers with nothing. No house, no car, no nice clothes or expensive make up. Now, they have all of that and still need more. Instead of a 20, 000 car, they need a 40, 000 one. Or instead of a nice home, they need to move into a "richer" neighborhood. Instead of spending $10 on lip gloss, they spend $50. To each their own, of course, but why is it never enough? Why can we not just obtain the lifestyle we are comfortable with and use anything extra to help others? I take the train to work every morning and every day I see people huddled up under trees or in doorways, trying to get a bit more sleep before they have to begin another day of being homeless. I really don't know where I'm going with this, but it's just something that bothers me on a daily basis.

So Cassidy is sick today. I hate it when she's sick. It started at about 1 am last night. There really is nothing worse than being woken up out of a deep sleep to "Mommy, I puked." What a horrible wake up call. We were up for a few hours and finally fell asleep. I let her sleep in and when she got up she seemed fine. So she went to school and I went to work. It wasn't even 2 hours later that the secretary of her school called and said that Cassidy wasn't feeling well again. I felt so awful. So now we're hanging out at home watching kid movies. I really hope she isn't coming down with the flu that's been going around. I hate it when she's sick. I feel so helpless. But it happens, I guess.

Congratulations to Pearl and Roch and also to Devon and his girlfriend who both found out that they are pregnant! Babies are in the air. I just hope I don't breathe in any of that air.... one child is enough for me for right now.

That's it for today! Take care, everyone.
Love,
meg.

New Beginnings

2006-10-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

I'm listening to Leah, and creating a new post. I know it's been forever since my last blog, and I haven't even been that busy. Things just keep happening and preventing me from posting. And I still have a virus on my computer at home. I can't figure out how to get my laptop from work to work from home either. I think I would be considered technologically illiterate for today's world. But I manage.

Work has been crazy as usual. It seems that since I got back from Houston, I have so much more to do because of all I learned. But I just keep plugging away. I figure that I can only do my best in 8 hours and that's all I can do. I'm not about to work insane hours from home because that's not fair to Cassidy. Speaking of Cassidy, she's learning how to read! It seriously does seem like yesterday when the only contact she would have with a book would be to chew and drool all over it. I'm so proud of her, she's trying so hard. I forgot how hard it was to learn to read and I feel sorry for the poor kid. She gets so frustrated if she can't figure out a letter or a sound and of course, I'm the most impatient teacher in the world. I must get that from my dad... If anyone has any ideas on how to help a kid learn how to read, I'm all ears! I'm not sure what I'll do when she learns how to read. I won't be able to wear my Motley Crue concert t-shirts anymore. The world will no longer be censored. Is this the part where kids start to pick up on the evils and tempations of the world around us? It seems kind of easy to shelter your children when they don't know any better, but what am I going to do when she can actually read the newspaper and realizes that there is rarely good news to report. I don't want to be the one to have to break it to my baby girl that the world is not really a peaceful place. It's ravaged by war, famine, poverty and disease. I suppose these discussions are still a couple years away, but they're still too close for my liking.

That was depressing. On to more cheerful subjects. Tomorrow, me, my sister, my brother in law and his brother are going to see Cirque de Soleil Delerium for Dave's birthday. I'm excited. I've never seen Cirque de Soleil live and I imagine it's going to be specatular. I've been to a few concerts and shows lately and they've all been wonderful. We saw Elton John last week and he was as good as you can imagine Elton John would be. It's really amazing to think that one man can entertain 20000 people with just a piano. He's mesmerizing.

So winter is on it's way. At least it seems that way in Calgary. It's been cold and wet for the past couple of days. Generally that means snow. I'm waiting to wake up one morning in a winter wonderland. The good things about winter.....flannel pyjamas, sparkly white snow in your hair, the scent of cinnamon and pine, movies and popcorn, skiing, new mitts, the view of the mountains on a clear day, Christmas, and the promise of new beginnings.

Have a great day, everyone!

Metamorphosis

2006-09-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Houston! What an awesome city. I really love it there. The weather was phenomenal, the people are so much fun and the food is fantastic. And I got to go to the Astros game on Sunday night. Definately the highlight of my trip. I've been a baseball fan since I was about 5 years old and that was my first MLB game ever. It was so exciting. I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. I took over 200 pictures. I was such a tourist, but I didn't care. But I'm happy to be home. I missed my girl. She was so happy to see me when I got home, it was awesome. I bought her a cute little charm bracelet in Houston and gave it to her when I got back. She doesn't like any of her friends to touch it because "my mommy bought it special for me from Texas." So cute.

I did hear a lot of political discussions while I was down there. It's a hot topic, for obvious reasons. It's pretty interesting to hear what American citizens have to say aobut the war and their President. The media is always influential, but their patriotism really stands out when discussing anything even remotely political. All I have to say is that my thoughts and prayers are with all the troops stationed overseas. God speed and come home safe.

Tonight, I'm going with Tara, Dave (my brother in law) and my best friend, Christine to go see Elton John. I managed to score tickets from a supplier of mine because tickets sold out in less than 3 minutes. Crazy. But I'm so excited. I've never really been a huge Elton John fan, but I can't deny that his music is very powerful. It should be a once in a lifetime concert.

And then I'm looking forward to doing nothing for the rest of the weekend. I'm going to make a trip to Blockbuster sometime tomorrow and I think that Cassidy and I are going to chill in front of the TV together. We take all the blankets and pillows in the house and set them up in the living room and watch movies all day. She's fun to hang out with because she's got an opinion on everything. I love watching the way the mind of a six year old works. Cracks me up.

I just want to say hey to my friend, Leah. Your personal metamorphosis has really been an inspiration to me. Keep fighting the good fight! Resisting temptation only makes you stronger and wiser.

That's it for today. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thought for the day...

2006-09-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

Mean people suck. Seriously, what does a person have to gain by being mean to somebody else? This is something that I have never understood in all my 26 years. Remember when your mom used to say "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?" Whatever happened to that? It seems today that everywhere I look, someone is getting yelled at or picked on or whatever. I was going to the mall at lunch today and I was on the train. There was a group of teenagers standing by me and a girl that they obviously knew tried to stand with them and one of the girls actually told her that they did not want to be seen with her because she wasn't pretty enough and her clothes were too old. What???!!!! That poor girl was so crushed and that will stick with her for a long time. I just wish that people would think before they speak. But on the other hand, what goes around, comes around. Everyone gets exactly what they deserve in the end and it is not up to us to judge people.

Tonight is Cassidy's first parent-teacher interview of grade one. It'll be interesting to hear about how she's adjusting to gr. 1 from somebody else's perspective. From what she tells me, she's been having a few problems adjusting to the structured days. So we'll see what her teacher has to say.

I just found this picture on my computer after looking for it for ages! This is the matching tattoo that Tara and I got done when we were visiting our little brother in Saskatoon. I love new tattoos.

Tara's getting this amazing tattoo done of a fairy on her back. It's gorgeous. It's going to look so good when it's done. This is the first outline of it, let me know what you think. I'll post it again when it's completed so you can see the finished work. It really is going to be a work of art. I was so impressed with her tattoo artist. She's getting it done at Body Inc. It's a great place to go. It's where I got my first one and the artists are really good. Check it out if you get the chance. Anyways, I'm out for the day. I won't get a chance to post again until late next week so I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Take care, everyone!
Luv,
meg

Brrrrrr

2006-09-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. It is miserable outside. It's cold and gray and misty and just plain gross. I'll be thinking of this horrible weather when I am enjoying the heat in Houston. It's 30 degrees out there now and I can't wait to go! And I'm getting tickets to the Astros game on Sunday night. My first MLB game ever. I'm so excited. It's not the Braves, but I'm surprised they still have a team with the way they've been playing this season. It'll be fun, minus the work part.

I have a housewarming party to go to on Saturday and I need a good gift idea. There are prizes for the best gift under $30, so I need some help! I don't want to get the usual plants or dishes or pictures, etc. I need a really killer idea. Any thoughts are appreciated!

So I did the dumbest thing ever the other day. It's even dumber considering I've done it before. I had a craving for fish and chips, so I went to the little grocery store on the corner and bought fish sticks and a bag of fries. I got home and opened the bag of fries and it wasn't fries at all. It was carrot sticks. Carrot sticks! In my defense, the bags are eerily similar. I'm still choked. I don't even like cooked carrots.

I finally have my computer and Ipod working! I'm going to be spending way too much time dowloading music in the near future... My music library is already at 300 songs and I've only been at it for 1.5 days. Yes, it appears that I do have too much time on my hands. It's now 4:30 pm and I am out of here for the day! Have a great Tuesday night, everyone!

9/11

2006-09-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm completely slacking on this blog. Sorry... Although I'm sure not too many people are heartbroken, I think Leah may be the only one who reads this!

First things first. My thoughts and prayers are with all the families and friends of the victims of 9/11. There really isn't anything else to say about that without getting into a long-winded political rant. They say that time heals all wounds, but I think this is a little different. I started thinking about that while I was listening to the radio this morning. They said that over 95 % of the population can remember exactly what they were doing and where they were when the news of the plane crashes broke. I remember it like it was yesterday. I think that 9/11 was one of those defining moments of life, and it just gets more frightening as time goes on. Thoughts on that, anyone?

So Cassidy's 6th birthday party went great last weekend (Sept. 2). She cleaned up. Time to clean out her toy box and make another run to the Salvation Army to make room for her new stuff. It's crazy how spoiled kids can be these days. I know I've vented about this before, but it just blows my mind completely. Trying to get children to be grateful for what they have is a tough job. After Cassidy's birthday party, we went out to my aunt's trailer in Sundre. We had a really good time, it's beautiful out there. It's only 1.5 hrs from Calgary, but it's like a different world. Cassidy really loved it. She had a great time playing in the river.

This past weekend was a lot of fun too. Our cousins (Jeremy and Shauna) and their kids (Curtis and Hannah) were passing through Calgary on their way home from Waterton, so they stayed the weekend at Dave and Tara's. On Friday night, what was supposed to be an early night turned into an almost all-nighter. (cheers to Steve Irwin). I worked for most of the day on Saturday and then I took Shauna out to a really neat little store called The Witchery, where she picked up some crystals and just had a great time looking around. She's a very spiritual person, I really had a good time hanging out with her this weekend. Saturday night, we finally used Tara's fondue set and ate for about 3 hours. Good times.

Calgary Corporate Challenge started this weekend as well. It's a huge tournament type event with about 250 companies participating in events that range from bowling and bocce ball to urban orienteering (think Amazing Race) and laser tag. I played volleyball yesterday. So much fun. I forgot how much I love to play volleyball. Brought back a lot of wonderful memories. But today I hurt. Badly. I took a dive at some point during the game and cranked the side of my face on the floor. My jaw hurts. It's going to be soup and jello for a couple days. Oh well. My next event is softball so that should go without incident. Knock on wood.

Work is still insanely busy. But I think it may be calming down a bit. Or maybe I'm just getting used to it. Hard to say. Some exciting news... I was elected to be the new co-chair of the Halliburton Volunteer Council. I'm pretty happy about that. It's a great opportunity to learn so much about the community and ways to help. This weekend we have the Terry Fox Run and next weekend is the AIDS walk and we have a lot of Christmas events coming up as well. This goes back to my earlier statement about how tough it is to get children to be grateful for what they have. I like to bring Cassidy along to whatever events I can so she can see that not everyone lives like she does.

Big TV week this week! I can not wait to see who wins Rockstar. I don't even know who I'm rooting for anymore. I'm a huge fan of Toby and Magni. But I really like Dilana as well. She just hasn't really been very creative lately. I feel like her performances do not surprise me. Toby on the other hand, has made me go WOW a few times lately. I guess I'll be happy with anyone except Lukas. Not crazy about him at all. He would disappear on a stage with Tommy Lee, I think. I started watching Big Brother last week too. Not sure why. I've never watched it before and I decide to tune in the second last week? But I think I want Erica to win. She's pretty. And the season premiere of Survivor is on. I didn't watch it at all last season and I miss it.

I finally got my Internet hooked up last Thursday. Only to find out that I needed some sort of service pack installed before I could use the connection. So I get this service pack disc from Dave and try to install it. Well, turns out that I need an Internet connection to install the disc. So I check to see if my connection is working and it's not. So I call Shaw and they fix it up. I tried to install the service pack again and now I think I have a virus. Urgghhhh. I really would like to use the computer and Ipod I got for my birthday 3 months ago! Oh well. I'll get it figured out sooner or later. Happy Monday, everyone!

Love,
Meg.

Birthdays, Toys and Rock Stars!

2006-08-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I hope all is well with whomever may be reading this. I have been so busy lately at work, it's hard to believe. Lisa, my trainer/co-worker/friend had her baby last week. Her name is Solaya Marie and she was a hefty 8 lbs, 4 oz. (Congratulations, Lisa!!!) So needless to say, she's not at work anymore. Which is a few weeks earlier than expected. We have a million projects on the go, our busy season is starting up and then I still have to keep on top of my regular job, plus learning aspects of a new job as well. It's crazy. On the up side, it is helping ease my smoking habit a lot. I think I've had 3 cigarettes at work in the last 2 days. But it makes the day go by fast. Today is almost over and my brain is so fried that I don't think I can concentrate on anything new. My manager is already talking about changing my title to something more efficient and something that will also result in more $$$. I will never turn down more cash! So I suppose I could say I'm paying my dues and will hopefully be rewarded for it in the end. Enough about work.

So... my baby is turning 6 in 3 days. I honestly can not believe it. I really can't. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. I'll have to see if I can dig up a baby picture of her and post it. Just because she was so cute. My sister always said that she looked like a porcelain doll. With red hair. I'm having her party on Saturday afternoon and that kid is going to be so spoiled. I don't remember having half the junk she has when I was little. When I was a kid, I had a Cabbage Patch Kid and a Lite Brite. And I thought I was rolling in cool stuff. I still remember sitting upstairs in our bedrooms and playing Lite Brite until all hours of the morning with Tara. It was awesome because no light would shine to the bottom of the stairs when our parents checked on us. We were so sneaky... At least we thought we were. Anyways, my baby girl is turning 6. It's a harsh reality that time really does fly by. Craziness.

Not much else is going on in my world these days. Looks like I'll be going down to Houston again sometime in mid-September for some training courses. I'm excited. I love Houston. They have the best Mexican restaurant north of Mexico! It's called Papasitos and their enchilladas are so good they make me want to cry. There is something to be said about their margaritas as well... Hopefully this time I'll have some time to do some sight-seeing. I really want to check out NASA and head out to Galveston. I doubt I will though. It'll be work, work, work, eat, sleep, work, work, work and then come home.

Anyone check out Rockstar: Supernova last night? If you don't watch that show, you really should start. Finally, somebody took a music reality show and did it right. It's just so different from the Idols. It's refreshing. There are only so many seasons that you can watch the same thing every week. Check it out, it's a wicked show. Go Magni!

The day is coming to a close. Sigh. Time to go home to job #2! But being a mom is going to be fun tonight! We're picking out a cake for the big day on Saturday. Take care everyone!

Luv,
Megan

PS: Devon, I'm sorry I haven't had time to email you! We'll chat soon, I promise.

Pictures

2006-08-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. This one is of Cassidy and her step-sister, Kiyra. Cassidy goes to Saskatoon every summer for a month or so to visit with her dad and his wife. Kiyra is an added bonus! She loves spending time in Saskatoon. She was a bit homesick towards the end, but made it through okay. I look forward to having the chance to be a 26 year old all year, but of course I'm ready for her to come home a couple days after she leaves! She doesn't get to spend much time with her dad, so she enjoys every minute of it. Her favorite is Kinsmen Park and the spray pool!
I took this one at the Trans Alta Grandstand Show during Calgary Stampede. Isn't it amazing? This show is phenomenal every year. I went twice this time around and was more impressed the second time. Can you imagine how strong you would have to be to do something like this? If you're ever in town for Calgary Stampede, make sure you check out the chuckwagon races and Grandstand Show. You will not be disappointed, I promise you! You can tell I'm a mom, because as I was watching these two perform, all I could say was, "Get down from there, you're going to hurt yourselves!"

This is me and my best friend from high school, Sheri. Tara and I went to a lake near Fort Qu'Appelle on July long weekend to camp with our "other family". It was really great to see everyone again. All the kids have grown up so much, I almost didn't recognize them. Sheri and her husband, Steve just had a baby girl and it the first time I saw her. Little Saren is such a sweetheart. I left the lake almost convinced that I wanted another baby. Hey, I said almost! I don't think I could deal with the no sleep and diaper changes and contstant feedings again. And I think my mom would disown me if I had another baby before I get married! We'll see...

This is me and my big sister, Tara. I can't remember what we were doing... probably just being stupid. We do that a lot! Anyways, I'm out for the weekend. Everyone have a fantastic weekend!

I might love dogs...

2006-08-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Thursday afternoon! I'm so glad the week is almost over. It's been a long one. Cassidy's baby-sitter is on holidays until Monday so my aunt was kind enough to let us stay at her place for the week and she's looking after Cassidy while I'm working. I can't thank her enough! But it's been a really long week. She lives waaaaaayyyyy down south, so it's a hike to work every day. I haven't spent more than 2 nights at home by myself since the middle of July. All I really want to do these days is curl up on my couch with a bottle of wine and a good book. Soon enough... But enough of my complaining.

Did anyone watch Rockstar: Supernova last night? That's my new favorite show. Probably because I have an unhealthy obsession with Tommy Lee. I love him. I was shocked that Magni almost eliminated. I have a ton of respect for him. Not only is he amazingly talented, but he's a hard core family man as well. There aren't many of those left in the music biz. At least not that I've seen. Anyways, I'm rooting for Dilana all the way. She gives me chills. I don't think I'd buy a ticket to one of their shows with anyone else fronting the band.

Speaking of TV, I watched the greatest movie last night. (I really should cut down on my TV time). Eight Below with Paul Walker. Now we all know that while Paul Walker may be one of the most gorgeous men on the planet, he really isn't much of an actor (except in Running Scared-he surprised me in that one). The true substance in this Disney flick came from 8 beautiful dogs. They're all Huskies, but I can't be sure of what kind. I was never really much of a dog lover, but these dogs were so amazing. The movie is based on a true story about a team of Antarctic explorers and how the team of dogs got stranded alone and chained up because the team had to evacuate with the promise of returning. Well, it wouldn't be much of a movie if everything went as planned, would it? Of course, circumstances prevented the plane from returning for the dogs and they ended up surviving by themselves in Antartica for some insane amount of time, like 175 days. I don't know exactly how cold it was up there, but I got chills just watching some of the storms. Anyways, it was just a good movie. Cassidy loved it too. So everyone check it out if you get the chance!

More exciting news... My friend/co-worker is on her way to the hospital to give birth. It's her first baby and it's a girl. So we're all anxiously waiting to hear how everything goes. Baby is about a month premature, but I'm sure everything will be fine. Although this does leave me on my own at work. Aaaahhhh!!! She was supposed to have been here until the beginning of September and we had a very long list of things we wanted to accomplish before then. Wouldn't you know that it was a child who prevented that from happening. Those of you who have kids are saying "Well, what did you expect? That happens all the time!" I know it does, it's just a bit scary being responsible for a multi-million dollar operation. Going into our busiest drilling season ever. It's definately going to be an interesting winter! Lisa, if you're reading this... we're all thinking about you and wishing you the best! Take care and I can't wait to see your beautiful girl!!!

I think that's about it for now. All I can think of anyways. Have a fantastic day, everyone!

Luv,
Meg

So exciting!

2006-08-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

So this is my first blog and my first entry ever! I'm ridiculously excited about it. I do have to thank my old friend, Leah for giving me the idea. It just seems like a really cool way to share and vent and communicate, etc. But you all know that because you're not blogger virgins, like I am. I'm at work right now and really should start working but setting up this blog was my first priority today.

So...for those of you who don't know me, I'm a single, working mom in Calgary. My little girl, Cassidy, is turning six in September. (Where did the last 6 years go???) She's going into grade one and is quite excited about being "the big kid in school". I guess she's tired of all those Kindergarten babies. Here's a picture of her at her ballet class. Isn't she sweet? I love this picture, she looks so angelic. And believe me, she's not. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have nothing but problems with her when she's a teenager. Oh well, I have a few years of sanity left.

I keep looking at the time ticking away on my computer and I'm starting to feel guilty. I have soooo much to do today. I work in the oil and gas industry and it's busy. But it's also a lot of fun and extremely challenging. The oil and gas industry in Alberta is just a crazy thing to be a part of these days, I recommend it to everyone! My older sister, Tara, and I actually work for the same company. I like it. I've only been with this company for 5 months, but the atmosphere is so different than anything I was used to before. It's always go, go, go. Of course, that can get awfully tiring too. I've talked to many people who just can't wait to get out of the 8-5 rat race. I'm sure I'll be one of them, but not yet. Right now, I'm enjoying being a business woman during the day and mom at night.

It's almost break time, so I'm out for now! Thx for reading!