I'm Still Here

I know I haven't posted in quite a while, but I've been busy. I got back fine, although the flight back was the worst one yet. I've been hanging out at my best friend's for the week and am going home today. So, I'll be away for a while longer, while I unpack and get settled in. I haven't started or read a book in over a week (so I blew that New Year resolution of reading an hour a day already :S) But, there were some extenuating circumstances so I forgive myself.

I hope everyone else is doing well. I'd love some ideas for what to read next, what's the most interesting book you've read lately?

Goodbye is the hardest part...

My time in Canada is almost up. The last year and a half that I've spent here has been wonderful. The yearlong work exchange program I was a part of was an invaluable experience. I learned so much, and made wonderful friends. The last 6 months I did a little traveling and just enjoyed my time here, which was hard to do when I was working full time. Canada is my second home, and I will miss my friends and family here, so much.

My plane leaves tomorrow morning at 5:30 am. Right now, I'm a raw bundle of nerves and energy. I tried to take a nap a little earlier, but only managed to half sleep for about an hour.


I'm sad, nervous and excited all at once.

I will miss:

My boyfriend. More than words can explain. Lucky for us, we've been together nearly 6 and a half years and are used to the distance. Though this time it'll be a lot harder after having lived together.

My boyfriend's family (My second family): I love them all very much, and am very appreciative of all that they have done to make me feel welcome and loved.

My friends: I've made awesome friends here.

The way people say hello on the street. I admit, this took getting used to at first, but it's nice to say hello and have someone smile, especially if you're having a rough day.

Tim Horton's Cherry Cheese Danishes. I don't like coffee at all, but these danishes are awesome.

There are many more things that I'll miss, but that's enough of a list I think.

I will not miss : The ice.  That's for darn sure. Luckily this winter it wasnt' so bad.


I'm excited to get to see my friends and family back at home in California too. I haven't seen many of them in almost a year, some even longer than that. As excited as I am,  I know it will take some time to adjust. Plus I've got to get back into the working world again as well, which I'm excited about. I have a lot to contribute and I'm looking forward to being part of a team again.

I'm staying with my best friend until the 28th, and then I'll be going home from there. I don't know how much I'll be on the internet during that week, if at all, so if you get really late comments on entries, that's why. I should have a couple of reviews to post, as I've got a few e books that I've been neglecting because of the move. I have 2 ebooks to read, so I'll try and get at least one review ready by monday or tuesday after next.

Happy Reading everyone!

Sunday Update

I'm still around, I've just been busy. There's lots to do, with last minute packing and errands, trying to make sure I have everything done that needs to be before I leave on Friday. Right now, I should actually be tackling a mountain of laundry, but I'm going to update my challenge lists and write this instead.

I've been avoiding some of the things I need to be doing to have fun instead. Last night I went out for drinks and dessert with my boyfriend, which was great (and yummy!). I had some great drinks and an amazing piece of key lime cheesecake. We were supposed to finally go to the secondhand bookstore today too, to spend some store credit, but it's -30 with wind chill so we opted to stay home instead. Luckily it's supposed to be warmer tomorrow so I'm going to run last minute errands in the morning, and then we'll go when he gets off work.

I've still been reading, but I'm reading the Twilight series right now. I finished New Moon and am about 40 percent of the way through Eclipse. This series is such an easy read! I started New Moon one night and read 320 pages in three hours. That's a much faster pace than I can usually manage. I don't think that I'll do reviews on these, as pretty much everything to be said about them has been said. (What can I say, I jumped on the Twilight train really late!) I have a few books that were given to me by the authors to be reviewed, but I'm waiting until things settle down a bit so that I can give them the proper attention.

How's everyone else's weekend been?

Friday Freakout

None of the things in this post are actually worth freaking out over, I just like the catchy title.

My first freakout item for today actually started yesterday. I went to the bank to withdraw some money, but since the amount I needed was a bit large and I needed it in US currency, the bank didn't have it when I went in. They told me I could wait a half hour to check to see  if another teller had it when they came back from lunch, or that they could take down my info and call me the next day to let me know when it was ready to be picked up. I chose the second option and gave the teller my phone number. She told me that the rep would be calling me later on that same day to confirm the details and that they would also be calling me this morning when it was ready to be picked up.

I didn't get a call  later that afternoon. No big deal I figured they got busy and forgot. Then this morning came and went with no phone call. Now, I was starting to get a little irritated. One of my pet peeves is when people say that they will do something and then don't follow through. It really irks me.

So I went to the bank, and luckily they had it ready for me so that all turned out just fine.

Then when I dropped off that at home we checked the mail and my boyfriend handed me a card that belonged to me, which leads me to pet peeve number two....my mail being opened by someone other than me! The envelope was completely torn open. Not just a little rip or tear from being jostled, but torn open. I don't know what they were so in a rush for that they couldn't read the name properly, or what they were looking for, but I hope that whoever opened it enjoyed looking at my holiday card.

Among the other strange happenings of the day, we had some pretty eccentric cab drivers on our way to and from  the store to pick up a few things. Thank goodness for zoned cabs here, so it doesn't cost as much as you might think.
On the way to the store, the cab driver was one of those types who tries to sound really smart, but really isn't. He kept talking about movies, and then it moved onto space and space technology. Only he wasn't making any sense. Plus my boyfriend is a super nerd, so I know what that kind of talk is supposed to be like and this guy wasn't quite hitting the mark.

Then we fought our way through walmart. It was super crowded, which I don't care much for, especially since people don't pay too much attention when it's really crowded. Or they pay a little too much attention to me in particular. But we survived.

Then on the way home, we had another eccentric cab driver. Only this time he was a little too far out there.  So much so that both of us were uncomfortable. He seemed like a nice enough guy, until you got him talking. Dearran mentioned one of his friends was looking for a roomate and found one, so we're just chatting about that and the cabbie interjects and says "Yeah I had this one roomate about 14 years ago and she was okay for a while but then I caught her stealing and told her to get the f*** out of my house that f******* b**** (I don't feel like having to give my blog an adult rating and I don't know how strict blogger is about swear words so I'll let you all fill in the words with your imaginations) and so on.

Then he started talking about how he hates when other cab drivers steal passengers and how he got out of his car to rip open the door to another cab and threaten the driver, (with a bunch of swearing mixed in.)

Lets just say I was very glad to get home.

The day wasn't all bad though. We got everything we needed at the store and stuck to the list for the most part. Plus we got some good tote containers that were on for half price. I'm especially happy since we were able to get purple ones, and, in case you couldn't tell by the looks of my blog, I love purple. Plus, we got a bundle of 10 cardboard boxes for more packing. The sign said $ 4.47 where they were sitting, which wouldn't have been a bad price, but when we looked on the receipt it said 1.77 and didn't mention anything about it being a ten pack. So either they were on a super clearance sale, or they were supposed to be 1.77 each and the cashier charged us wrong. If she did, we saved about 15 dollars.

So all in all, the day sort of balanced itself out.  Does anyone have any Friday Freakout experiences they want to share, or general pet peeves?