Weekend Escape

Here we are back from our mountain get away. It is still toque and mitt weather in the mountains but you sure don't seem to mind much with the breathtaking 360 views and the wonderfully clean crisp air invading your lungs, rejuvenating your soul.

I am more in love with the thought of moving to the mountains then ever before. Mountain Donna is a relaxed, happy Donna. Seriously, I get sore cheeks every time we are there from the natural perma grin that takes over my face.

I said out loud on the drive down to Terry, just to make it for real, that I was giving myself permission to eat anything and as much as I wanted. We are usually so careful, watching what we eat and portion control...not this weekend, I went a little nuts!

Sushi, beef tenderloin, potato chips, pizzas and bagels....never watching the time, or eating at 'normal' intervals, just eating when ever I felt like it.

I could NOT believe how fantastic everything tasted. EVERYTHING. Was it the mountain air or just the fact that I said it out loud and gave myself permission to be bad that made it all so good? Who cares! We ate in so many different bistros and cafes, tasting and drinking what ever they had to offer.

Back to the daily grind, old habits and routines, it wasn't hard to get back on track but I think I still feel full. It may also be called bloated. No matter, it was all so very worth it.

We did other things besides eating of course, we also had the bonus to be in the same mountain town as our very good friends who were skiing for the weekend so we were able to spend a couple of fun evenings sharing drinks and mountain adventures.

One step closure to the dream.

The Move

With the office move complete and the boxes mostly unpacked I have to say that I am not hating this new/old space as much as I anticipated. I still am in possesion of some stupid anxieties that I can't seem to shake. For example, I was so afraid to face people yesterday that I did not go get a glass of water all day, in the morning I managed to sneak down to the lunch room for a drink and get back with out running into anyone, but for the rest of the day I just stayed put in my new mini cubicle...hiding. What? Why? Just..how come? I have a tonne of excuses but no real explanation. Here are some pictures of the office as it became our cube life.

Here is the empty, finished, renovated space. This used to be a training center for mechanics to come and learn how to fix and build the latest engines, transmissions etc. This was a dyno room where they would test run the engines. Quite the transformation.

This is where my cubicle walls will be erected. There is my phone waiting for me on the floor.

Below is my new mini office cubicle, it shrank in size quite a lot. I used to have two desks with upper cabinets and room for an extra chair...no longer. I never had a window before. Nice. Notice my name plate, it was made with my old last name and since the company will NOT be spending any unnecessary money for the time being I have used a sticky note to show who really sits there now! To the right of the screen, those black boxes are provided by the moving company to move our files, yet to be unpacked.

Below you will see the view from my chair when I am sitting. I like this part the very best. Terry took me to IKEA at lunch today and bought some plants for my sill. It's a very nice addition and really made this little new space feel OK. My gray walls are still bare and I think I will fill them with photos of fun places we have been and pictures of home so when I look up I can see and feel my self in a happy place. Plenty of day dreaming in my future.

That's it for now, like I said, I don't hate it as much as I thought but I definitely have some issues to work through.

The kids are off this weekend on a Easter ski trip to the mountains with their Dad so Terry and I decided we deserved a break too. Thanks to some great advice from Don Amero we got a super great deal on a hotel room via an online hotel sell off site in Canmore. We are heading to the mountains tomorrow after work for mini honey moon #2 and some well earned R&R.

expectations too high

Saturday, Terry and I headed to the local convention center to check out the home renovation trade show going on. We were armed with measurements and pictures of our latest projects looking for the company that was going to wow us with their products and reel in our business....we were not only un-wow'd by any one but we left disappointed in the lack of any effort that the companies who were showing at booths put in.
Maybe its just me, but I think that if you are paying the money and taking the time to be involved in a trade fair, now is the TIME! You got us here, you have our attention, show us what you got.
If they took this opportunity to get a few customers buying their services and/or product at a discounted 'ONE DAY ONLY' price, that customer would be able to show off and brag about the great service (you still have to provide great service, discount or no) and great product to their friends... isn't word of mouth the best advertising(?)....only the discount would be gone and people would still being buying based on recommendation, and so on and so on. It seems simple to me.


So anyhow, we left, we had fun hanging together, that's always a given, but no further along in our reno. No worries.

As we left we walked out the door to this site.

The Edmonton Oilers home barn...ahhh. Last place in the league yes, but still my team. I am so excited to have tickets to the last home game of the year (people are suddenly just giving these things away! go figure) where the team will win the game and raise their sticks to the fans saluting them for their continued backing and support letting us know that next year they will be better, I know.

And this doesn't have anything to do with anything at all...I just thought it was funny.

This little stick man is only missing a cigarette in his little stick hand....This was taken in the LRT station, not the best location, known for having plenty of loitering of the not so friendly kind. I think this sign was talking to you Mr.Riff Raff.

Building Bridges

Helping kids with schools projects seems never ending.

There always seems to be something to buy, glue, find & create.

Most recently is Nathan. He has to construct a bridge for his grade 3 class to wrap up their Buildings and Structures unit.

They were to build a bridge of their own design using the knowledge they learned in class from materials found at home using connectors and/or adhesives.

The bridge must span 30cm and hold a mass of 1kg. Once completed they have to write a report on how they built it and why they think it will work etc.

This is yet another, on his ever growing, insanely long list, of reason why I am so happy and grateful for Terry in our lives. Boy can this guy take a project and run with it. Every plan, detail and tool handled with extreme care and consideration in making the final outcome nothing less than perfect.

In Nathan's words "Terry Rocks!" Good job boys.

good bye rolling gallery

All day every day trains roll by our office windows covered in graffiti. There are some pretty darn talented hooligans out there. This one isn't one of the better ones. Don't get me wrong, I don't condoned vandalism at all I just think that we see so much untapped, underfunded talent roll by our windows every day, we might as well enjoy the view. After today our personal rolling art gallery will be no more.

Koddee the cat

Looks like he found a ray of warm sunshine to call his own.

ah hahahaha

Very funny Spring...very funny!

We already saw you. You can come out of hiding now....we saw you.

We'll be waiting right here.

Come on back, we were having fun.