Anxiously waiting, count dogs on…..

So my fiancee and I have a little over 7 weeks until we take possession of our new house. 



We have gone through paint selections, furniture choices (which to be fair, is way easier since I work as a furniture design/ consultant…..), and we have basic plans for the renovations, flooring styles and textures. I mean, we even have it down to the stain color that we are going to use on the deck. Plans for a home office, in one of our upstairs bedrooms, so my fiancee can work from home and have a view of the woods instead of a concrete parking lot is first up on the list. We are both going to start evolving into carpenters and home makeover celebrities (in our own minds!). It’s going to be quite something as I only have random experience with carpentry, as my father was always Mr. Fixit and did all the work around the house when I was growing up. This is why I can cook and clean like a pro, because I always got told to help mum, as I might have been in the way with wandering attention span and often unwanted urge to “just do it on my own without guidance”.

At least with the kitchen help, I would get food.

So as the weeks go on, we have turned our attention to pets. And we are unanimous on the fact that we want a big dog. I mean, moving to isolation (compared to our apartment) is a scary idea for someone who has seen maybe three or four more scary movies for there own good. A big dog would give me piece of mind for when she’s at home or when I’m home alone. I’m a heavy sleeper and if any things going to wake me up, it’s going to be a 150lb sub ‘woofer’. My fiancee grew up with Rottweilers and I grew up on farms, so big dogs are something we have experience with. But I wanted something different. And I have decided on a cane corso. It’s a beautiful big dog with a bad rap. I mean, most big dogs do, but I’ve only ever known them to be sooks. Overly loyal and protective, they are everything I want. And I would never alter the look. I love a longer tail and floppy ears. Such cuties! 



But a word to the wise. Before getting an addition to your family, make sure they fit. I mean I hate seeing big dogs in the city. They do not have enough room! They need space inside and out and room to run! Ugh, breaks my heart. And if you really love a spotless home, do even bother. There is no way anything in your home will not be covered in dog hair at some point. Hell, I don’t think my fiancées hair hasn’t been on something in our place! Nothing will be safe. But for peace of mind, and a companion for walks and gardening, you can have no better. My fiancee and I will be looking for respectable breeders in the near future so we can set up interviews, but she has yet to hop 100% on board with my choice of pup. We will see if things go my way, but I’m getting excited and will be popping up with more random stories (and maybe her choice!) in days to come!

Cheers!

Why Do We Seek Labels?

Here here!

10 Cities/10 Years

It’s almost a daily occurrence now. On Facebook or Twitter, in an article or mind-numbing listicle, someone is discussing the traits, burdens and/or pleasures of being an introvert. Based on the unscientific sampling of my personal feed, 90% of the narcissistic self-promoters in the world are actually meek and shy introverts.

When us loners aren’t breathlessly talking about how weird it is that we prefer books to people (haha, I’m soooo crazy!), we’re posting the results of a Briggs Myers personality test (or some generic knockoff).

“I’m totally an INFP.”

“Well, I’m an ENFJ.”

“Oh, I could definitely see that. I guess that’s because I’m an ENTP.”

“I kind of figured all of you were CUNTs.”

And when we get bored with scientific classifications that mostly mean nothing, we fall back on the original sugar pill of personality labels: The Zodiac.

What’s Your Sign?

How is it that a…

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A Home Office, a Baby, a Life

This is truly heart felt. As a new homeowner, I know ‘that’ feeling, and hope to one day have that epiphany! Love this!

write meg!

Who knew a room could launch you into adulthood?

I spend a strange amount of time not feeling “old enough.” Not old enough to have a house, a car, credit cards, a checkbook. Not being old enough to have a husband and a baby on the way; not old enough to argue with cable companies and insurance representatives, to be grocery shopping independently and gathering tax documents.

Though I don’t obsess about it, I often feel like I’m glancing over my shoulder — waiting for someone else to swoop in and take care of things. Fix the insurance snafus; adjust the thermostat. Be the adult in the room.

It’s scary to realize you’re the adult present. The one throwing the party, taking the phone calls, signing up for health care. It’s all you.

We have a home office. One with built-in cabinetry, outlets for computers, actual computers, a mug with…

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Curious Feelings….wait, what?

Its been a week!

Terrible weather, a heart surgery, and house anxiety, coupled with that “waiting for pay day so I can buy toilet paper” feeling. 

The worst. 

 

The weather here has been horrible for work. On a personal note, I love the snow. I love “in” days where I can just sit back with a coffee and relax (maybe finish that book!, or play some video games…. ) or just Pinterest with my Fae fiancée. I went out the other day to the dollar store and bought a crazy carpet and she thought I was nuts. Here I am, 30ish, and driving around the city in a snow storm looking for the best hill to slide down. I miss the days where, as a kid, I would spend all day outside and play on my GT, making awesome snow forts in the woods, or siccckkk jumps for my snowboard. Skating was also a big thing, although I had much more fun playing winter versions of “army men” with my friends. I almost always lived on or near a lake in Ontario growing up so a rink was always there. Dad would help shovel off the snow and flood it for us whenever we got the urge to skate around. We loved it. 

 Speaking of Dad, he went in for another heart surgery. I hate surgeries. As a child I spent quite a bit of time in the hospital and remember how terrifying it was to me. In retrospect, it really wasn’t so bad, the nurses were always nice and I made a lot of friends when I was stuck in there. I just hate feeling weak. I don’t like seeing my Dad weak either. He is the toughest son of a gun I know and the only other person who scares me as much as he does when he gets angry at me is my mother. and the way he looks after heart surgery makes me sad. My mother is anxious, I’m anxious, and Dads gone through this so many times, he knows its fine. Just some rest and relaxation and he’ll be good as new. Its crazy how routine heart surgery can be now-a-days. they spent only like an hour and put two stints in an artery outside his heart and didn’t even have to open his chest. They actually went through the wrist! It was fantastic, and its so non invasive that he actually was released later that day, to come back to my place and rest for the night at my apartment.

 Can’t wait for the house. We take possession mid April! 54 days, but who’s counting, right? My faincee and I have so many plans, I just don’t know how we are going to do all the things we want to do this year while saving for the wedding. word to the wise kids, house first, than wedding! It’s so much easier to plan a wedding after you’ve dealt with all the stresses of purchasing a home. Never do both at the same time, it will make you crazy! We plan on having a painting party (unbeknown to our friends…) right after we get keys. Sweat equity is going to be put in like crazy, and I’m sure after this, no one will want to come to our wedding because they will be afraid that they will have to set up the tent on the day of or something! ( I mean, we can always use some more people to BBQ, right???) 

 But, I’m happy that I have the weekend off to relax. I wonder what the weekend will bring???

Pressed for pressings, and the sound of gold.

I am not an audiophile.

But I love vinyl. 

The generation below me is, in my opinion, ignorant to the old ways. The self obsorbed, be yourself generation, who ironically enough attaches itself to brands and trends, have no realization to the sound of warmth. The digital age is something that I’m still getting used to and by God, I got my first Twitter account a few days ago. Digital music has changed the way you listen to music. You can take it with you where you take your phone nowadays, and it’s convenient. Going for a run? Check. Want to be anti-social at the grocery store? Check. Want to annoy everyone on the bus at 7am with your mind bending trance/ house “music” blaring from your headphones? Check. It’s all well and good. I can bob my head with the rest of them. I look like a human version of a hungry, hungry hippo. The digital age has made playlists and singles a huge deal. Artists can become overnight sensations due to YouTube or just plain smart social media marketing. People can buy only the songs they hear on the radio and not the rest of the album. Wasted potential. How do you find new things when you only do the infinite repeat? I don’t know. Or maybe the single is a global reflection of the attention span of our younger generation. Short, sweet, then on to the next thing. Bam, bam, bam. Playlists are the best examples of people just listening to the singles. One after another, hit after hit, with no new material unless Ryan Seacrest announced it on the noise box. Go forth and find new music on your own, my child!

I’m being a hypocrite though. I am guilty of having a playlist. But mine is vinyl. Playlist one is ‘side A’. 



Needle down and and wait. Here it comes. Sweet, sweet audio gold. If I were to make a comparison between digital and vinyl it would be this. If digital music is like pouring a glass of ice cold water into a clear glass, than vinyl is like pouring your favourite hot coffee into that nice mug you got at market that you actually enjoy. If digital music is like that pond set in a autumn setting, then vinyl is the lake in the middle of summer. It’s warm. It’s comforting. It makes you want to sit down and enjoy it. Hell, even the weight of the pressing is nice to hold. You can’t even hold digital. And CD’s are too easily scratched. True fact. Properly stored vinyl will actually outlast digital for being a media storage device. Crazy. I find vinyl to be that classic way of listening to music because it makes you listen to the rest of the album. Discover the rest of the artists talents and really find the structure or background of who they are and what they are trying to convey to the listener. A single is just a moment in time, but in the rest of the album, the true story is told. 



I’m not the only one on this bandwagon though. Vinyl record sales last year were up by at least two and a half percent. That’s a huge increase. People are starting to see the value in vinyl. Even HMV is starting to put pressing on their shelves.  What’s nice about that is that vinyl sales are usually generated through mom and pop shops. Local businesses seeing an boost in sales. So people of the world. I emplore you. Please stop downloading music. Please stop buying CDs. Go down to your local record shop and find your favourite artist. Pick up that fantastic looking record. Support local. And don’t worry. They usually come with digital download codes so you can still walk the dog, while listening to that ice cold digital.

 So kids, take those Beats by Dre, and plug into a record player, and read a book. 

Please. 

Life steps and the backwards paths that move us forward.

So if you’ve been following my writings, you know that my fiancée and I just bought a house. It’s a scary deal for both of us, and even more for me. I just recently started a new position at my work and it’s commission based. It’s a new and wonderful position where I help people make decisions on furniture design and get to be with them from start to finish and afterwards. I honestly get to emerse myself into their lives and become like a new child (with limited) design knowledge. They trust me and take my opinions on what’s right and wrong in their living space. I love it. But it’s a risky business. Anyone in commission based sales knows this. You depend on so many different factors to see people and it takes time to build your client base. And for my fiancée and I, it’s to much. 

And I feel badly.

I wish I could mentally handle the stress of handling such delicate affairs with clients that trust me and keep up the work load with a second job. I wish that I could focus that much. I don’t handle stress well and I get nervous and thoughtless. Now that being said, it’s not that I can’t handle stress, but it’s the stress that people look to you as a person to carry forth and protect them from bad decisions and harmful financial situations. I wish I could keep my mind in the game at my main job, while taking a second part time job. But then, I think I would be stretching myself to thin. Burning the candle at both ends, as my mum would say. It’s destructive and I do not want to put any pressure on my fiancée with unwanted stress because of my inability to deal. And lastly, the financial commitments needed for buying and maintaining a home is not conducive to a new sales position. 

So I’m taking a step back. Going back to my old position. To help people, and help myself. Hourly wage peace of mind. It sounds horrible and it is definitely a step backwards in my life and career, but I need to do it this way for my sanity and my relationship. It’s going to help financially and maybe even open up the possibility of school for me again. I had dreams of going back to school for a business diploma, and maybe now, finally, I can get on that education train. And I love the company I work for. It’s full of kind and caring people, (sales people are people too!) and everybody brings their own individually and it really is a second home for me. There are people that think like me and are crazy, but also are among the most intelligent people that I know. And everyone has taught me something different. In small ways and big ways, but more importantly given me a sense of family and belonging, crazy as it may be. 

Nobody knows yet, and it will be hard to tell them when the time comes, but at least I’m not going far. Just back to the warehouse where people will only get to see me once in a while when they need help or when I pop out and take a look at what could have been.

Shucks. I’m gonna miss this. 

Onwards and backwards!

Wine: Eternal In Our Minds, Not On Our Shelves

Bottlenecker

I had a customer come in the other day looking for a bottle of Ridge Monte Bello. The thing is, he didn’t just want any old bottle. He was specifically looking for the 1995 vintage.

“1995?” I sputtered. “Yeah, you won’t find anything that old in our store. You’d be hard pressed to find it anywhere.”

The customer seemed confused. “A wine from 1995 is old?”

In the end, the whole endeavor was pointless, as we didn’t even have a current vintage of the Monte Bello available, but it illustrates a curious and commonly held misconception: that wine lasts forever. Much like the concept of “love at first sight” and astrology, these notions are deeply ingrained in culture, and difficult to root out.

I can tell you definitively, though: wine is not eternal.

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New old beginnings and the feelings of a suburban activist.

So I watched Virunga last night. 

Another one of those horrid stories about how greed and selfishness dictates day to day for normal people and how it ultimately hurts the environment. A small group of people giving their lives and sacrificing so much to protect something greater than themselves. It’s a touching story and ultimately shows how humans are at a constant disadvantage of having one mindset over seeing the bigger picture. We as a race need to see it. That bigger picture is our future. Our children’s future. And we need to act on what’s right and accept that without the basic structure of a clean, balanced and protected environment, we are screwed. Already we have water we can’t drink, air we can’t breath, and soil that will not support growth or lack thereof. 

But im a city tree hugger. I sort my garbage. Recycle. Compost what I can in my apartment (at the moment.) I don’t drive my car everywhere. In warmer months, I bike. Walk. Buy local, when I can afford it. But what does that do for the bigger picture? Almost nothing. It takes more than one. Or two. I set an example for the younger people. Pick up trash that floating around the ground. Hold doors. Be polite. Laugh. But as for the environment, we need more. More people fighting and saying that some things should not be sacrificed for monetary advancement. Some oil should stay below ground. Not everyone needs a diamond. Recycled plastics can be made to replace metals. Can you imagine if we all had to grow our own vegetables? Maybe the bees would come back. I’m so afraid of bees, but even I recognize the fact that we would have no food with out them. China is pollinating plants via human hands, since the bees has disappeared from their fields. Do you want your kids to have “flower pollinator” on their resume? Be part of the human hive mind? Lol. Turn into that horrible Seinfeld animated flick for real. The futures bleak, my friends. 

So set that example. Be yourself, and keep the environment in mind. Open your mind. Take that alternate route. Research the products you buy next time. Drink more tap water instead of that water that was bottled in a area where they force people to buy hire water and pollute the local supply. Or the chicken or beef that’s mass produced in grain fed barns where the animals suffer. Do what you must, but just take mind. 

Peace and love to world, dreamers. The movie just bothered me. 

Fellowship

This is me. All the time. Lol

Tabula Candida

“And every Christmas I cosplay as a shepherd.”

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To infinity…. And bed, bath and beyond



Ours. Pending a home inspection.

One would think that once an offer goes in and counters are made and met, that it’s just a few signatures and a handshake and you’re done. 

Dream on you crazy dreamers. 

My fiancée and I put in an offer on this place and only had to wait and hour to hear the counter. The seller was invested and of course countered our offer with a much higher number. Enough that we had to think about it. Parents were called, realtors questioned and our souls were tempered in a forge of uncertainty and honed with doubt. We slept on it. Ate breakfast on it. Drove to work on it. Decided that we would counter the counter. HA! We thought that we had him. Meet halfway, and everybody’s happy, right?! Nah. Homie was thugging. Staying hard on the streets. Countered again to the left. Half way from our halfway but more on his higher side. So we said no. We had to, defeated and dejected, but our realtor came through. She managed to get him to pay for water tests and septic inspections and gave us a deal that her company was putting on for other people. Also a half priced home inspection.  We were on cloud nine. WOW! 

Then came the rest. Finding lawyers. Calling mortgage brokers. Giving money. The little tidbits of knowledge that come to light after its all said and done. And the timelines for everything. Whoa nelly, back it up! This is supposed to be fun, and a big step for us! I mean, after a house comes marriage and fur babies! But it’s almost as stressful as the whole buying process. But when it boils down to it, barring crazy horrible circumstance, you now have a house to love and call your own. We have so many ideas, mainly on Pinterest, but we don’t get keys until mid-April.

The chin up! The countdowns on! 

Cheers!