Feel free to laugh, I sure am

This post is a part of 20SB’s Looking Back Blog Carnival, and Ben & Jerry’s is awarding free ice cream to lucky bloggers and readers. For more info, check it out here.

So this is from the very first month I started blogging - I was 15 and living at home and I had a boyfriend named Chris who lived 45 min away from me (oh, gotta love Huron-Perth county!) and holy CRAP, does that ever feel like a lifetime ago. Oh, and about the Shakespeare thing? Yeah, we didn't have to write it in iambic pentameter - I did that just for kicks. I'm kinda geeky like that.

Tuesday, December 10, 2002
I was pretty much paid the biggest compliment
of my life yesterday. And no, it didn't come from Chris. Or my mother. Or any family member, for that matter.
It came from my English teacher. I borrowed the movie we were watching in class
because I missed three classes last week, and she really needed it back yesterday, on Monday. So of course I bring it, and she went "Some people
you just count on to not screw up."
Also, today, we had to pick a topic for our culiminating task for Much Ado
About Nothing. I picked the "in-voice" journal....and I
couldn't really decide who I was going to do it on. So finally I picked Beatrice, and Ms.Kappler was like "I was kinda hoping you'd pick that person." I go..."Why?" Ms. Kappler "Because she's an excellent choice for
you....gutsy and independent" (She's right, ya know.....you gotta be gutsy
to be goin out with a guy like Chris!!....heehee, mwa, I love you sweetie)
Anyway.....anyone EVER try to write in iambic pentameter?! Stupid, stupid
Shakespeare!
Btw, how is getting everything right on a questionnaire about your boyfriend scary? So I pay attention! I'm smart for a reason, people! On that thread of
thought, why haven't I gotten that back about me? hmmmm Chris? O yea, had a very interesting conversation with Erica last night.....::frowns::..
They put too much chlorine in the pool. I swam 2 and a half hours last night and an hour and a half this morning, so my shoulders and face are burning and really itchy. URGH!!! I feel horrible. Ok, an OFSSA time for a 50 free is a
:30.25 Right now my time stands at a :35. If I achieve an OFSSA time, then I
will probably be going to Western Regions, which is a double whammy. And if I
get my time down to a :28 I'm a likely candidate for Provincials. But thats not really going to happen. At least not this year anyway. Yesterday I had choir practice at my church for like 2 hours. I get to sing soprano this year but I was trying to hit this extremely high note and falling flat almost every time.
It was so fustrating, because I'm supposed to be a good singer and able to hit
that note and I just couldn't do that last night.
My poetry blog is up and running....its called Jardin Des Reves and the
address is www.jardindesreves.blogspot.com. I have a link in this blog but since
my links are currently white, they aren't showing up. By tomorrow I should have
a new poem posted. Go check it out if you want. (Tomorrow, of course)
Chris, one piece of advice. When you write something and are finished with
it, just go Shift+Ctrl+S. That'll publish it. Another thing, at the
beginning of each post, go < font color= and type in this six
digit/letter code. 9999FF... > This will make your posts blue....which is
what you want!!

Bebe

Absolutely delicious, decidedly nutritious....

You guys, I have food in my fridge. Real, honest to goodness yummy nummy FOOD.

For three months, all our fridge had in it was diet pop, a jug of water, and a few condiments.

Now we have diet pop, water, condiments, and THIS:You have NO IDEA how excited this makes me.

Oh! And wanna see my dinner? I swear - I never thought I could eat like this AND ENJOY IT.

Basically, that's a quarter cup of whole wheat pasta, 1 cup of tomato sauce, 3 oz of extra lean ground beef, 2 cups of chopped red, yellow & green peppers, a stalk of celery and one green onion with a side of 2 cups of steamed carrots, green & yellow beans with, of course, a diet pop to drink.

Doesn't that look amazing??!

AND, believe it or not, in about an hour (because man am I STUFFED!) I can have half a cup of low-fat frozen yoghurt with 2 cups of strawberries for dessert. Nom nom nom.

it's friday, I'm not required to think

Got this from Kelly. Mwah.

1. What is your current obsession? Sims3. And looking at my very pretty sparkly ring!!

2. What is your weirdest obsession? Collecting different versions of Monopoly. So far we have 3.

3. What do you see outside your window? Straight out: the other highrise in our complex, trees, buildings, blue sky and a highway. If I look down I can see the parking lot, grass and the pool.

4. What is your favourite colour? Yellow, Orange, Red, Silver, Blue.

5. What is your weakness? Books. Gah.

6. What animal would you be? GROUNDHOG! haha. Seriously, wtf?

7. What would you like to learn how to do? Be patient.

8. What do you want to never happen in life? Not sure.

9. What is on your bedside table? My rhiny horno, table lamp, phone, Dsi, book, a couple stray elastics & bobbypins, ring box, purple pen, a tub of mango body butter, two remotes, probably a couple of empty Sprite Zeros.

10. What's the last thing you bought? Little Pink Slips by Sally Koslow.

11. What do you think about the person who tagged you? I worry about her - she doesn't seem to be in a good headspace lately.

12. What was your favorite children's book? The classics - Hungry Caterpillar, Goodnight Moon, Love You Forever, etc.

13. Who do you want to meet in person? Keith's siblings! Damn them living on the other side of the country!

14. What did you want to be as a child? Writer/Journalist/Lawyer.

15. What did you dream about last night? I didn't.

16. Which do you prefer, day or night? Anytime I'm not tired.

17. What's your favourite piece of clothing in your closet? It's a tossup between my enormous black hoody that I've worn everyday (or close to it) since getting it last October, and my new purple tank top with lace at the top.

18. What's your plan for tomorrow? Finish nitpicky things on assignment, class, submit assignment, pay bills, look at my pretty ring, buy food for Elvis, play Sims3, read a book, play Dsi, listen to country music, take a nap & go to bed late. My life is hard eh?

19. What would you like to get your hands on right now? A RIDICULOUSLY ENORMOUS WAD OF CASH.

20. What is your must-have of the moment? My phone. Where the HELL is it?

21. What's your favourite tea flavour? Sugar. And milk.

22. If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go? Europe.

Are you blind?

The whole story really starts at about 4pm on Thursday....I was napping and all I heard was "Hi sweetie, I'm home." He then kissed my head and announced, "and now I'm off to school." In my half-awake state, I thought this was really weird as he usually has an hour or so between work and school, but it didn't stop me from sleeping another hour.

I got up at 5 and checked my bank account - and I saw the transaction from the jeweller (my account has the higher POS limit) and I immediately screamed and got very, very shaky. And then I was half-mad at myself for looking; but really? That's me. It's not that I hate surprises, it's that I'm so impatient that surprises never last long around me.

This was at five. Keith had school until at least 9:30. The next four hours passed by agonizingly slowly - although Keith called me twice, emailed me once, and we had a mini-conversation on Facebook about my status. I also thought that weird, because we're adults - we CAN go 4 hours without speaking to one another, believe it or not. I just chalked it up to him getting a new cell phone the day before.

The next part of the story is really, really embarrassing. He got home at 9:30, like usual. I actually started patting him down looking for the ring! (I can't believe I did that!) Needless to say, I didn't find it - and he explained the transaction away by saying they had made a mistake and the ring wasn't quite ready, but since he was there he just paid off the remaining balance. (He really knows how to deal with me, huh?)

Ahem.

My mood immediately went from nervous excitement to, well, I think you can imagine. I was disappointed, and yet chiding myself because it was silly to be disappointed - I wasn't even supposed to know! I was really tired at this point (about 11) so I decided to call it an early night. I went to bed and finished reading July's issue of Cosmo. I'd like to note here that he had me totally convinced that he didn't have the ring yet.

Keith followed me into bed and we just did normal stuff - watching TV, playing on the Dsi, talking - you know, just stuff. Then we started cuddling and slightly making out, which was really nice since we haven't done that in awhile. I was laying on his chest when he remarked "Are you blind? There was something on my desk the entire time."

I sat up and gulped while my stomach did a nervous flipflop. "What?" I asked. I'm not going to lie, it honestly felt like he was lunging at me while his hand came out from underneath his pillow and suddenlythere was this object in my face. It took me a few seconds to realize what that object was and it was as if his voice was coming from very, very far away - "Will you marry me?"

It was the most surreal experience of my LIFE. I managed to choke out a yes (obviously), but it felt like everything was like when they dub something and its a little off - his mouth was moving but I didn't hear them until a few seconds later. So surreal.

The wedding won't be for a couple of years yet. We've both decided that the focus right now is on our schooling and - let's be honest here - neither us nor our respective parents are in a financial position to host a wedding.

But that's okay, honestly. Just knowing I will marry him (and that it's official) someday is enough.

life-changing

I'M ENGAGED!!!!

I'll tell you the story in a day or two. Right now I want to just savour what happened.

(oh, and PLEASE click to enlarge, these don't do it nearly enough justice)

bang bang

• I LOVE unexpected money. In all forms! Like unexpected cheques, a bill for half the amount you planned on, or even just a kind salesperson that says they'll waive the connection fee for both cellphones.
• Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. Sigh. "Walk Like A Man," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Beggin'," "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," "Who Loves You, Pretty Baby?" "Swearing To God," "Oh! What a Night," "Grease," "My Eyes Adored You," are all on instant replay in this household.
• Getting very, very fustrated with this whole losing a half pound to a pound a week thing. Although it did take 9 years to put on, so perspective & patience are needed.
• I don't think my Mom will EVER stop working. I mean it. On her vacation this summer, she's headed to China to teach ESL for a month. WORKING. On her VACATION. Intense.
• I can't believe its nearly been two years for Keith and I. Every day I look at him and feel so, so incredibly lucky.
• Our trip was great. We really did tons - Ontario Science Centre, BlueJays game, CN Tower, the Zoo, Jersey Boys, ROM, Casa Loma. We were complimentarily upgraded to a queen suite, which was massive - 430sq ft. I got a wicked sunburn, a huge blister on the bottom of my foot and won a full game of Trivial Pursuit. I wore very impractical shoes and then limped very painfully through 3 hours at the zoo and 3 hours at the CN Tower on Friday, and at Casa Loma climbed so many stairs that until yesterday my legs felt amputated from the thighs.

(see that tower? Yeah. Climbed that to the top. Ouch).

(Favourite room in the entire castle - The Observatory)