Archive for December, 2006
2006: My Year in Review
It feels like way more than a year’s worth of events have transpired over this past year. To recap:
January 2006:
Brian and I got back together (here and here)
I started this blog
I started a Certificate in Project Management at Ryerson
February 2006:
My first trip to Arizona as Brian’s girlfriend (while I was there we went to this and this and experienced the randomness of this and saw this incredible show).
March 2006:
I taught myself how to crochet
I had my last test by the “real” doctors to determine what the dyingness was
I met the magical osteopath
Brian came home to visit
April 2006:
My parents sold our house
My cousin had a baby girl
My friend Carolyn got married
Brian decided to stay in Arizona longer than expected
Brian came home to visit
June 2006:
I went to visit Brian in Arizona for the last time (and saw his first professional concert)
Book Expo Weekend… and more
I had my 1 year anniversary at work!
My little bro graduated from grade 8
July 2006:
We moved!
August 2006:
Brian moved home for good!
I went to England (more here, here, and here)
September 2006:
Mom and I went to Stratford
I turned 26
October 2006:
Brian and I had our first full month together in the same city
We launched 5 websites at work
November 2006:
The Week of Musicals took place with my going to see Urinetown, Chicago, The Trans Siberian Orchestra, and Songs for a New World
Brian and I went to Kingston
I went to the Giller Light Party
My Little Bro came to work with me for the day
December 2006:
I got a promotion at work!
My candida number went way down after a year of not eating any gluten, sugar or dairy!
Here’s the 2006 List of Books I’ve Read
Looking back through 2006, a lot happened. I feel like 2007 is going to be a good year. Now that I’m feeling better and have the candida pretty much under control, I can start to focus on other things (I hope!). January holds 2 more classes in the Project Management Certificate, and more yoga. Now that the health part of my life doesn’t have to consume everything I do, I hope I’ll be able to see more people and to strengthen some friendships that I know have been neglected (sorry everyone!).
I’m also going to try really hard to start to live in the moment and appreciate what I’m doing and where I am in life more, and not worry about or complain about where I think I should be or what I think I should be doing.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )top searched for terms in 2006
This is pretty interesting. Have a look at what people searched for (I think it’s in the US) in 2006. In a MediaPost enewsletter that I get, this was broken out even further by the author to indicate which market sectors use which search engines on top of more interesting details. Can you match up the type with the search engine? Go on, give it a try.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )what i’m reading, have read and will read?
Not sure if you’ve ever noticed that I have a tab for my current Reading List, but I thought that I would archive the 2006 details here for, well, archival purposes of sorts:
Books I’ve Read in 2006:
The Kite Runner
JPod
Suite Francaise
An Audience of Chairs
A Year of Magical Thinking
She’s Come Undone
The Devil Wears Prada
On Beauty
Audio Books I’ve Listented To:
The Penderwicks
Mountains Beyond Mountains
Shadowman
The Coffee Trader
The Good Life
The Myth of You and Me
The Horse Whisperer
A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life
Mr. Mau’s Travelling Couch
The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
I can’t believe I only read 8 books in full this year. I used to read dozens! Even before University. Maybe I can make an effort to up this to at least 1 book a month, so 12? Surely I can do that. Right? Especially with the 1001 Books You Must Read Before you Die list and book club motivating me? Right?
Keep looking at my Reading List for 2007 and help encourage me on! I need your support and snyde comments people!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 9 so far )shows what i know
I was thinking that I had to use up my stamps this week before I had to add that dreaded 1 cent increase they add every single year. And, when I went to find a link, I discovered that they are creating permanent stamps here, like the ones in England, so that even if there is a cost increase, you don’t have to add the penny to the stamp to compensate. There’s more info here about it.
One of the neat facts on this press release is:
“Since 2000, more than 430-million 1 cent stamps have been printed in Canada. Placed end to end, these stamps would cover a distance of almost 11,000 kilometres. To get a sense of how long that is, remember the Trans-Canada Highway, the longest national highway in the world, stretches from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, B.C and is only 7,604 kilometres long!”
So, what do I do with my stamps this year that need a 1 cent partner? Do I not get to use them any more? Yikes! I still have stamps from 2005 that I didn’t get paired up with that penny stamp to use up. Guess I’d better get writing! Haha.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )the two year catch up
So it’s likely a coincidence, but I went out with a friend last night who I haven’t seen for about 2 years. We went for yummy thai food and caught up on the past few years (funny how now even though life seems to be moving at a more rapid pace, there can be a year or two gaps in between meetings and that’s just about perfect for catching up on everything that has transpired in that time). Anyway, we had a lovely time and I hope it isn’t another 2 years before we see each other again.
Tonight I went out with a good friend from high school, Shirley, and the last time we hung out was over a year ago, if not more. It was on Hallowe’en night. I think it was 2005 and not 2004…but I’m not entirely sure. Anyway, we had a fantastic time at a local pub just catching up. The best part was when all of these “kids” came in and started getting id’ed and she realized that we hadn’t been (after all those years of being ID’ed WAY after the age of 19 and hating it, it was weird to be the old gals in the room atthe age of 26). I said that it must be getting close to 10 because the kids were just coming out and we were past our normal bedtimes. It was 20 to 10. Oh dear. Anyway, it was fantastic to see her and to catch up properly after being incommunicado for so long. And, though I suck tremendously at keeping in touch with people regularly, I do try my best to stay in touch because I place it on a very high level of importance.
And I realized that this is part of the reason why I don’t actively try to meet people like I used to. I don’t have time to maintain the relationships.
I mean, I barely have time to maintain the ones that I WANT to maintain with the people that I consider to be very good friends and I currently consider it fantastic if I can email someone back within 3 months of the receipt of their email, which is not a fantastic turn around time. And so more people means less time that I don’t have enough of to begin with. So, for anyone reading this who I haven’t been in touch with frequently, I apologize. BUT I am ALWAYS here for the really important stuff and, as with every New Year I will promise to try really hard to be better at returning emails and making initial phone calls and all that jazz.
Thanks for sticking with me 🙂
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )christmas, part 2
We had a lovely Christmas together this year. The best part was that Kevin slept in for the first time, so we didn’t get up until 8:00!! It was nice to see everyone open the gifts that I had found for them (and to open some myself). The fun part about getting older is that your list tends to shrink and you end up with everything on it! Haha!
My dad even got me a DVD player, which is very cool, but when we took it out of the packaging Brian noticed that it has definitely been used before and is scratched up. The box was taped together with Scotch tape. I’m not sure why Dad didn’t notice this, and the thing that makes me sad is that he was so impressed by the service he got at the Sony store and then they just went ahead and screwed him over. It works and everything it just isn’t new and I feel bad that he went to all the trouble to find what he thought was the best player (and it is a good player) and then it is all scratched and used. I don’t know if it was a floor model or returned or something. There’s also a sticker on it that says to take it back to the manufacturer, not the store, so we thought it could have been refurbished which would be fine IF they were selling it as a refurbished product which they were not. Anyway, I feel really bad and I’m not sure what we should do. It’s just unfortunate.
Mom also made a fantastic dinner last night — I swear it was the best turkey I’ve ever tasted! AND she made me a pumpkin loaf and pumpkin cookies and rice cookies (all of which are candida-friendly and the BEST baking I’ve had all year — with the exception of the yummy gluten, sugar, dairy free cake that is)!
Some of the family came over today — aunts, uncles, and my grandparents. Brian hadn’t met my grandparents yet, and it was nice that he did finally get to. Then we had a good old fashioned game of Texas Hold ‘Em, which I learned how to play and only messed up a couple of times (like telling my hand before we had finished betting, but Brian let me have the hand anyway)…oops!
It was all just lovely and I feel very happy right about now. And tired.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )on beauty
I forgot to mention that I finally finished On Beauty a few weeks ago. I must say that I adored Zadie Smith’s first novel, White Teeth, but couldn’t get into The Autograph Man (there’s still a bookmark in it), and I loved On Beauty for the first half of the book then grew disinterested in the characters. I just haven’t cared as much about them as I did in that premier novel. A few friends have also experienced the same sentiments. Have you read this novel? Did you find it to be the same? Which of hers is your favourite? Mine is definitely White Teeth, hands down.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )christmas, part 1
Brian and I always do our Christmas a bit early because we don’t actually see each other on the day of. Here’s what we did last year. This year was low key, but just as lovely. We went out for a super early dinner at Green Papaya (my favourite candida-friendly vietnamese/thai place). We go there so often that the waitress knows my order, which, sadly, I like. Then we opened presents (which, lets face it, is always fun). Brian got me the Il Divo Christmas CD and the Happy Feet Soundtrack (which we saw with my little bro last month sometime — it’s a fantastic movie if you haven’t seen it!), The Devil Wears Prada DVD, a cute penguin stuffed animal and a perfect address book (mine recently broke in half) and this one is super cute! And some wine stoppers that are Christmassy. It was very fun to open presents with him officially back in Toronto in his own place complete with Christmas tree!
Then we went for our our second dinner to Il Fornello and I had the gluten free pasta dish (which is to die for). We then watched a pile of movies, starting with The Devil Wears Prada, a couple of episodes of Family Guy and The Santa Claus 2.
Anyway a very lovely Christmas together and I can’t believe the “real” Christmas isn’t for another couple of days!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )promotion!
Starting in the new year, I will no longer be termed an assistant, but have been elevated to the status of coordinator! Yay! I’m so so so very excited!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )dreams suck
I woke up because I had a dream that Brian had cheated on me and called me to pick him up from her place in the morning. I couldn’t get back to sleep and then, when I called him he was out for breakfast with his ex. Not the best way to start the morning.
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