I want my baby back

It's been nearly a year now since I blogged about getting my engagement ring resized, and I finally got around to doing it this week. It's a good thing the rest of our wedding plans haven't been moving forth at such a glacial pace. It feels weird though, my finger feels light in a sad way. The ring was cozy and I miss it. It's made me realize how often I stare at it and replay in my head the moment when Luc asked me to marry him. I like that story.

Reading

The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen

Thoughts

Someone needs to invent a kitchen gadget that removes those pesky little hairs from corn on the cob in one fell swoop.

Fatties on Ice and MPub Withdrawal

My friend from school Cynara started a podcast with one of her friends named Jenny. It's called Fatties on Ice and it's pretty cool. You should check it out. It's about pop culture and media – they make a good team and they're very witty. I think one of the aspects I most enjoy, though, is hearing one of my classmates debate and discuss! It makes me feel like I'm in class again. Have I mentioned that I miss school? A lot. I love classes and discussions and fiery debates, and I even enjoy writing papers.

Sure, there were a few sunny Saturdays spent hunched over my computer all day, wearing the same grungy shirt I slept in the night before, banging away on the keyboard, each keystroke only driving me closer to the point of losing my mind. Those, I would like stricken from the record and my permanent memory. But all of the other times, even the first week of school, when we got to our editorial class and were given a seriously hefty, dense, academic manuscript, a tight little timeline and it was like, BAM, read this now, edit it, this is your life, suckers. I enjoyed that.

The Intern, the Bride and the Blogger

Lately my brain has been so occupied with work and wedding that I've barely had a chance to think like a blogger. Usually I'm grasping at paper and pencils every 5 minutes because I can't keep up with my internal dialogue of blog writing, but lately it's been nothing but crickets up there. However, that's because my everyday life dynamic has changed in the past month. The blog writer is sitting there scratching her head and picking knits from her hair, but the intern and the bride are running around, arms flailing like a mom on the dance floor. And the grad student is studiously working on her thesis in the backdrop, trying to keep to herself.

I'm knee-deep in the second month of my internship and 11 weeks out from the biggest day of my life (until, that is, we start with the baby making). My 9-5 is filled with writing, reading, editing, html and other fun webby magazine things that require enough brain power that I can't be simultaneously writing blog posts. My evenings are consumed with little wedding details that I churn out until they defeat me and I collapse with exhaustion in my bed that is never quite soft enough to catch my tired, heavy limbs.

It's been busy, but it's been good. And the strange little things that always seem to happen to me still happen, I just haven't had the will and the wit to jot them down. Like when one of our neighbours stole the quarter out of my laundry basket (filled with my, ahem, delicates).  My basket was waiting in line beside the washer and some crazy decided to snatch my shiny laundry money. I'm not pointing fingers, but I'm going to just assume it was the panflute player. I put in an honest effort to blog about that, but then I'm quite certain I fell asleep with my eyes open. But life goes on, I got another quarter and I'm telling the story now.

I'm writing an article this week for BC Living about Luc's and my hike to the peak of the Stawamus Chief in Squamish – which I will post a link to when it's done – so for now I've got this amateur, made-in-one-hour iMovie of our trip to the top.

So while I try to balance life as an intern, bride and blogger (and grad student, eek!), please amuse yourselves with this little ditty.



Update: check out the full story on BC Living.

Reading

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Dai Sijie

Listening to

"Hang me out to dry" - Cold War Kids

Unfortunately, they disabled the ability to embed their video (aka free advertising), so you'll have to go HERE to see it. It's worth it, though!

Vancouver weather, I loathe thee

I expressed my utter disdain for the June weather reports last week, and again this week I have to let out a resounding sigh. Really, June? At least one weather forecast team is trying to keep our spirits up. In the meantime, the other forecasters are keepin' it real. I can't decide which I prefer?

The delusional uppers:

Or the debbie downers:

Rationalizing

"Well, if we're not going to the gym tonight, then we have to do something fun and active...like bake donuts, then eat them."

# 56 - Way better than the Grouse Grind

56: Hike the Squamish Chief

Here's a look at our hike to the peak of the Squamish Chief...in photos for now, for I am too tired and lazy to write about the tourist with the unbelievably large Nikon camera, leather dress shoes and jeans...or the refreshing dip in the glacier-fed waterfall pool. Overall, the hike was fantastic and it was immensely more enjoyable than doing the Grouse Grind, which I blogged about last summer. 

Thoughts

It's sad that it's June 8th and my umbrella still has a permanent standby position in my purse.

Unsolved mystery

Back in January I had a bit of a scare regarding a knee injury. A decent-sized lump on the side of my knee was causing me a significant amount of pain while working out. The pain always subsided soon afterwards though, so I never did anything about it. But after much goading from Luc, I went into physio to see if I couldn't get things back to normal. Unfortunately, the physiotherapist was stumped, and for some reason she thought it was appropriate to tell me that it may be "something scary", and that she couldn't treat me further until I saw a doctor and was properly diagnosed. Because it may be "something scary..."

And you can all guess where my mind immediate jumped: cancer. It's a cancerous tumour and I'm dying, I figured. I had been completely reasonable until someone with a certificate on the wall blurted the words "something scary."

Of course I got into the doctor's office as soon as possible, and left another couple of physicians in my wake, equally as stumped as the physiotherapist. This time, however, I was sent to have x-rays taken. I spent the next week waiting for the results, sifting through a variety of situations, all the while unsuccessfully trying to convince myself that everything was fine. Everything was fine, though. So fine that the doctor's office didn't even need me to come in to review the results. So fine that I could just blow it off.

And because of my waxing and waning gym motivation through the rest of the hectic school year, I never got the chance to work out consistently enough for my knee to become a big problem. But now that I've slid back into the cozy workaday schedule of 9-5, I've had the routine opportunity to work my knee into the ground. And it got bad again. Really bad. There was obviously something wrong, no matter what the x-rays looked like.

A few days ago I returned to the same doctor's office and saw a different doctor. It was one of those appointments. It could have been a comedy sketch. I was there to have my knee checked and I was wearing jeans so tight I could barely get them above my calves. The doctor commented on that. We both laughed. But what really started as me going there to get a referral to a knee specialist turned into three needles in my knee, me freaking out, several instances of me saying "oh god, oh god, I'm going to pass out...", me lying down on the bed trying to stay conscious (I have a tendency of fainting...ask my friends...), and it all ended with the doctor and I sitting around, eating a box of shortbread cookies and reminiscing about living in Richmond.

I have another appointment on Thursday and this time they're going to have the x-rays in the office to examine alongside my knee-non-tumour. Even though I know it's not "something scary," I'm still kind of nervous. I hope I get shortbread again this time.

Thoughts

Weddings are fun and exciting, but they're also annoying because you sometimes find yourself saying really lame things out loud like, "now...do we want shimmering silver cocktails napkins, or metallic silver cocktail napkins?" Barf.

Homemade Kale Chips

This afternoon I went to the West End Farmers Market with my friend Liz. We checked out all of the cute dogs, sampled some of the best pickles I've ever had the pleasure of crunching into, bought some fresh veggies for lunch...and I picked up some great spice from a company called Maison Cote.

I used it while making some homemade kale chips...and the results....crispy, salty, and super delicious!

To make your own...
Wash and dry the kale - Rip into bite-sized pieces - Sprinkle with olive oil & seasoning - Bake at 350 for about 25 mins

It's a lovely night in the neighbourhood

Last night was the perfect evening for a bike ride. Luc and I were both at that special place where we're too lazy to go to the gym but feeling guilty enough to not stay on the couch. Oh yeah, the weather was temperate, the birds were chirping, the evening sun was still warm on our backs and all that crap too.

June 2010 Banner

Monthly Photo - June 2010

Train tracks at sunset.