But we've got our love to pay the bills.

Ah, the holiday recap. Christmas with Alex was truly magical. New Year's Eve was very memorable. Christmas Eve Alex and I visited his dad's house and my parent's house and arrived home around one a.m. to open our presents/stockings for one another.

Christmas morning his sister Chelsea dropped off all of MY presents from HIS family. And let me just say I have never been quite so flabbergasted. There had to be at the very least twenty, one from almost everyone on his mom's side of the family. (And phenomenally well picked out to boot, everything from a new laptop bag to tickets for a concert in January)

We then went to our respective parents' homes and met up later that day to hang out with my family. We spent a TON of time with my parents this holiday season, thank you Alex for coming with me so I wouldn't go crazy. :)

My dad taught Alex how to tie a tie, d'aw:
New Year's Eve was spent at McKayla and Phil's, and oh what a time! There were dips and chips to be had, as well as Mario Party 8 for Moo and I (invite me up again soon Moo for a rematch!). The night took the concept of drunkenness to a whole new level. Though just three coolers for me! I've lost interest in drinking over the past few months for some reason.


And I carried on one of my favourite Christmas traditions, driving around and looking at Christmas lights! This house looked like Christmas had up and barfed on it. Not only were their CARS covered in lights along with the holiday music blaring, but all of the lights individually flashed in time with the music. It took several minutes for me to get a shot with all of the lights on at once:

Belated holiday wishes to you all! xo.

The young and restless.

Last Monday I was involved in a fender bender, well I guess it would be more accurately described as a fender scratcher. Today I was called by the police and informed that she has filed a report with them. She has back pain you see. Back pain caused by our scratchy accident. Aren't these the kinds of stories that go down as ruining lives? Or at least insurance rates. I'm interested to see how the system will work for me.

Joey is home and that means happy warm fuzzy times. He has a fancy new car and the same Joey goodness, it is just not the same when he isn't here.

It looks like the Merrymeeting ladies will be disbanding (on good terms of course!). As McKayla finds herself searching for a place with Phil and Sierra and I join forces with Allan. Of course the housing market in St. John's is ridiculous right now (I'm not complaining, we're pretty much the only city in North America not feeling the recession, yay black gold), so no one has found anything. IT'S ALL RENTED UP, FOLKS.

And I'm finishing up work next week! I will miss my blonde children, but I'm pretty ecstatic to do the school bit again. I've been asked by my employer if I know anyone who wants my job. Part-time nanny work, anyone?

July (oh please don't Facebook these faces).

The moral of July:
One must always swim in city pools during the day, doing said activity during evening hours will have one of the following results:
- Being chased out of pool in underwears by policing figures
- Losing shoes
- Six inch gashes on legs
- Paddy wagon scares
- Getting caught by a running police figure who then insists that you may not put on your bra
- Scaring the shit out of everyone, both involved and indirectly involved
Or that could all happen. On your 19th birthday. Silly friends. Happy birthday Brittany!

Doesn't humidity suck? This summer is so sticky! I'm glad I don't live in the south, I would melt away.

Bouncy castle.

This was us last Saturday, happily prancing through the trees at Bowring Park. It snowed on Monday. But that's Newfoundland for you, and really, who can complain? It IS still May after all. We've been having crazy nice weather this month (I am tanning nicely, thank you for asking).

I spend five days a week at the dinosaur park with my young charges, playing slide conductor and juice hander-outer. And thus when the idea comes up of going to the park on my day off - I usually stay home. But I sucked it up. For the good of humanity and all that.

Life is racing past me and I have nothing to show for it. Except amazing bffs (and bf!) who keep me laughing and riding high in the clouds. I wish I could have a party for them all. Just that handful of people who mean so much to me. Maybe I will this summer. Have a little brunch in my backyard complete with a buffet and mimosas. Hmmm, yes indeed. I'll keep you posted.

I'm going to go race into those clouds again. See you on the flip-side, yo.

Fated.

Aren't we painfully cute? Robyn makes me grateful for the little happys of the world, thank you my dear.

As most of you can probably tell, my blogging has slowed down substantially. There are several reasons for this and I can proudly tell you that ALL OF THEM ARE GOOD.

I have taken the lemons of winter sad times and squeezed them into the delicious summer lemonade which is right now. Happy happy.

It was kicking around twenty degrees today (in April, I know, global warming is awesome... for now) and I spent the day outside lying in the grass trouncing the boy at checkers and being silly with my little lady. I do love the curly haired folk.

I visited Mommy this afternoon and she graciously bestowed upon me a new burner for my oven (I might have put a Dollarama oven mitt on a hot burner, oops), a bag off potatoes (to use on the BBQ she gave me the week before, wow my mom is awesome) and a slice of apple pie.

I am surrounded by people who are more generous than you can possibly fathom, for this I'm grateful.

But as it breaks into summer, I'm reminded of the things that need doing. Not chores, for they're too fun to be chores! Scrapbooks that need filling with pictures that need taking. Letters to be written and posted. Books to be read. Paintings to be painted.

Can you feel it? Life is coming back to the city. The BBQ is going every night, stop by with a pack of wieners or a steak and we'll have a chat.

It rolls in from the sea.

Everyone who drives around downtown/old St. John's says the same thing: the streets are too effing narrow!

But that's because they were made for horsies. :)


I love living on this side of town. Stepping out to face the day and being greeted with the clip-clop of horses, seeing the Basilica towering down the road, Signal Hill in the distance.

Sigh. I live in a magical place.

Bahama mamas.

This is where I make that Tim the Toolman noise (AAAHHHWUUU?).

Patriarch on a vespa.

Stressful times always it seems. We got a call late last night that my Uncle Nat was missing. He had gone out in his boat early that afternoon and didn't return.

This kind of made me mad, because he is the only one on my Dad's side of the family I actually enjoy spending time with. Honestly, he's the funniest old man in the world.

They found him this morning, thank goodness. Mind you it was after spending all night in his small (and very open) skiff, right on the ocean. The rain and snow didn't help much either.

I'm just bothered by the whole thing.

Luckily I spent all evening with my lovely friends who took my mind off everything.

Though cheap Indian food we could not purchase, we did manage to get some mighty awesome eats at a cafe on Duckworth. Score one for St. John's.

And because it was mentioned (and it makes me lol every time I was it), Robert in a gear.

I exist in someone else's head.

When some people are sad, they cry. I generally just get mad. When some people are mad they cry tears of frustration. I just get angrier. And when some people are happy, they smile. I usually cry.

Last night, I honestly thought I was going to burst. Like burst. I kept shaking uncontrollably and crying and screaming and losing my mind. I had my two bifizzles beside me and in front of me Our Lady Peace.

I wish I could convey to you how much this band means to me. Pretty much anyone my age living in this country loves OLP, it’s almost unpatriotic not to. But to put into words what their music, their passion, their spirit has done for me over the past decade... well I can’t.

And I think the only way you would know how much this band means to me would be if you were standing next to me at that concert last night. Watching me sing along with every song. Watching me scream like my life was ending. Watching me cry with every emotional wave.

I knew it was going to be one of the best experiences of my life when before even any of the lights came on, the bassist started playing that deadly opening line for Naveed.


They played a lot of songs I wasn't thinking I'd hear (off their older albums) and only two songs off their latest one. Hope, Starseed, One Man Army, 4 AM, In Repair et cetera. Songs Ashley and I happily screamed along to.
The guitarist looks like a 19th c. painting in this photo:
Good news to those who missed this concert, they promised they would be back here when they tour with their next album. :)

Life inside a music box ain't easy.

My first semester of university was rough. As was everyone's I guess. We were all trying to adjust to a new school, a new city, a new life. The only comfort I took out of all three of these things was the anonymity.

I could walk around this city for hours and not have one person recognize me. I could attend a weeks worth of classes and not have a single person talk to me in any of them.

I loved it.

A girl I met on the bus while traveling to Stephenville last Christmas told me (three hours after meeting) that I hated people. I was shocked! Everyone tells me how great I am when I first meet a stranger, how I can make an awkward situation happy by asking the right kinds of questions. I am a people person!

This is not true in the least. I am not a people person, in fact, I am a misanthrope. I despise going out with groups of people that I'm not really friends with. I hate the awkward conversations that inevitably ensue when you see a person you haven't talked with in awhile. I can't take the effort that goes into forced conversations (this probably ties in with my inability to bullshit people).

For example (and this is not meant to hurt anyone's feelings), but every single time I come home from a SASF gathering I have a headache. Like a raging one. Every time. I like most of the people that go to these togetherings, but my mind cannot handle the forced "hey, how is school going?", "what are you taking again?", "oh, this is fun.", "we should totally hang out sometime!". I don't care about any of the questions I ask or am forced to answer, but out of politeness and general caring for the people who attend these SASF gatherings I pretend I do. And pretending (aka:bullshitting) gives me migraines. LITERALLY.

My brother constantly makes fun of me for my "hatred of being seen". If the family wants to eat out for dinner, we can't eat at the restaurant but must take it home. No going to the mall unless it's for a specific thing. None of this walking around to kill some time stuff.

I've always been like this. Maybe I really do hate people.

This whole nonsensical post is stemming from the fact that I can't even go FIVE SECONDS on campus anymore without having someone I know/recognize start a conversation with me.

Where did the anonymity of this city go? :(

Backstreet Boyz.

Gentle lentil.

It seems everyone is moving to my city.

This beautiful wonderful person moved here this week and I am loving every second with my third generation S'ville family.

Last night we welcomed McKayla with vegetarian cuisine (mmm, Sprout) and lots of drinkz. I'm totally feeling the grown-up vibe more and more. And accepting it.

It's never a dull moment with Dave, as he is the kind of person who will casually invite strangers on the street to his home. The best part is they actually came and were kind of awesome, mango treats and all.

Here is Dave busking.
Not really, here is the actual busker eating half of my lentil sandwich. Dave just couldn't resist playing for the people.

I love life.

Miss you alreadyness.

Guess Who.

I spent last Saturday with the most beautiful (inside and out!) person I know. Can you guess whooo?

If you guessed Ro-yn, you guessed right! We fed the duckies in the rain. We ate mountains of breakfast (our favourite meal). We played Pictionary and Guess Who. We went to the Dollarama (duh) and Starbucks (double duh). We exchanged our super special baby. We shared love and hugs and tears and laughs and gasps and sighs and laughs and laughs and laughs.

We only took a few pictures, but I did get a lot of video. Including the late night musical chaos that ensued. Don't try to understand it. Just let it be.