Busy on Facebook!

Well, I haven't been here for a few weeks...I've totally gotten into Facebook. If you're not yet hooked into it, you've gotta get on that (a line from 40-Year Old Virgin...compliments of Mooj). Things are fine...busy editing and writing and hopefully getting paid one of these days. Hub says that anything I make is gravy, but I'm barely making enough to buy potato flour. Sigh...

Signing off and tipsy on Sauvignon Blanc,

A xx

Oh, yeah...

I forgot to mention that I had shingles a few months ago. Apparently, you can get them from having a run down immune system, and everyone carries the virus if they've had chicken pox...anyway, they began with pain in my right side, feeling tired...progressed to burning pain, tender, sensitive skin, and erupted in a horrid rashlike spreading across the right side of my body, front to back, in the abdomen area. If you're squeamish, don't look at this photo (oops, photo not loading...will add in next post), but it may be educational...you can identify it from the raised blistery skin...anyway, I got some anti-viral medication from the doctor at the hospital (I was in such pain, we went there on a Sunday night at 830pm...there until midnight)...Several Tylenol 3s and days later, I felt much better. If there were anything I'd wish on an enemy, it would be shingles. Might have even been more painful than childbirth. Ouch.

And a few more...

Alas, I forgot to include these pics...seeing as I'm on a roll...


V in the back seat, enjoying herself as we were driving to my mom's on Easter weekend...




And a few random ones...


Blue Child - India





Istanbul Spice Market







My dream Mexican bedroom...sigh...










And some cute men...



Trent Reznor-NIN





Gael Garcia Bernal






Mads Mikkelsen










and, of course:


Hubster - Sailing into Ft. Lauderdale, Morning, November 19, 2006

More Recent Pics

Here, for your viewing pleasure, are more pics (taken in the past few months):

Violet breakfasting before school/daycare


My handsome husband--photo taken at a dinner party (perhaps he's had a few glasses of vino in this pic) ;-)


Violet kills me...all this activity happens once she "goes to bed"...animals move, she changes position...it's always a surprise for us when we check on her before going to bed ourselves. Check out her broom bookmark!


Looking at this pic, I'm thinkin' beige might not be my best colour...my teeth even look beige!


Violet and her auntie Nancy, who paid us a surprise visit in April


Violet now has two new teeth...what a big girl!

That is all...happy spring!

xx a

May Days

I've been spurned into action by my friend Kerry, who has also chosen to update her blog, her last post (and mine!) appearing back in January. Now, we're both back in business.

Hello, my two readers! We are enjoying beautiful, though not yet scorching, weather here in Olde Ontarioooo. I've embarked on a new career as a managing editor for a trade publication and I'll tell ya, it's great to get the olde noggin working again. Who knew working could once again be so satisfying?


Here's our little angel - photo taken whilst on holidays in Cuba in April--age almost four-and-a-half, going on 35...where has the time gone? She now loves: makeup, party dresses, jewellery, fancy shoes, drawing, singing to her animals, Curious George, Big Comfy Couch, Madeleine (sp?), Eloise, strawberries, sushi, blueberries, popsicles, chocolate and strawberry milk, her boys (the neighbour boys Kyle and Gavin...around her age), other neighbourhood friends, Spenser and Connor, her friend in school, Asia...I could go on and on. She has certainly developed an inquisitive, head-strong, funny and smart little personality.


Glenn is busy, busy, busy with his job, which seems to change day by day as his company gets its act together. He is working out a lot at his company gym, he's getting the house together organization-wise, and, as usual, doesn't take enough time for himself just to rest and kick back..."there's too much to do," he says, once done one task...my thinking is that the work is there the next day, so take a break every once in a while. God love him.

We went on a family trip to the Blau Varadero, an all-inclusive resort, in April. The resort itself was nice, but b/c I'm used to a little more stimulation in the form of seeing different things, walking a lot, going to different places, window-shopping, etc., the repetition of the daily activities and lack of things to really do for adults made it a somewhat long week for me. Violet, on the other hand, really enjoyed herself; there was a kids' club, there was the pool, there was the beach, there was a kids' disco in the evenings...she was in heaven, so busy, making little friends and developing instant friendships. Kids. We got home rested, tanned and ready for a few months of cool weather 'til the warmth becomes a permanent fixture here in our town.

Here are some pics...


Our little family on the beach


Gettin' 'Er Done Up Fancy - Glenn and me all dressed up for dinner at the a la carte restaurant (my chin looks Jay Leno-ish, no?)


Violet and Glenn building one of many sand items (lumps, castles, etc.) on the beach in Varadero


Glenn striking a pose at the Blau Varadero pool


Me and V and Varadero Beach Hijinx (still hippy...oh, well)

That's about it for now...I'll update again when I get the chance. Must try and get this thing updated a little more frequently, but I wasn't feeling particularly motivated, for some reason (well, I do know the reason: I'm lazy!!!). Have a great spring, everyone, and talk to you soon!

A

p.s. Reached my goal weight last month!!!

I love Sacha Baron Cohen

Here's Sacha Baron Cohen
(a.k.a. Borat, Ali G, Bruno),
my current idol. Sigh.

He's just so delightful and funny...G and I saw the Borat movie on the weekend (date night!)...very funny, yet somewhat painful to watch...

Here are some more character photos (as Borat, Ali G and Bruno) and an interview below with him and the delish Jon Stewart.

Just so you know, I'm not usually so mushy about these things, but he's just so fabulous. Glenn agrees (though I'm sure he has no comment re: Sacha's looks).

Interview w/ Jon Stewart (I love the British accent):

That is all for today. Sigh...

(sorry about the wonky photos and copy...just getting the hang of positioning everything and don't know enough to do it in HTML)

Happy New Year!!!

Welcome to 2007, everyone! It's now 00.12 Milton (Toronto) time and I wish you all a wonderful new year...and lots of good health, prosperity, sleep, love and laughter!!!

Here below, a melange of photos taken over the last year (or so), for your viewing pleasure!!!

Love,
Anne

Anne's Melange

Christmas Up North

Hello from Timmins, land of little snow, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! We are all up here, visiting the hub's family, and a bunch of friends are descending on the town and we are having a huge, blow-out party at G's sister Nancy's house on the 27th...apparently, fixins' are being gathered to make pomtinis, and I'm thinkin' that maybe we should get a pomagranate with which to embellishto decorate the cocktails.

In other news, I've had cramps and a myriad other aches and pains the last few days and just want to sleep. V has been sick, too, and threw up a bit yesterday and slept a lot. She seems fine today, though, and had a lot of fun opening presents (though she seems pretty ungrateful for all she's gotten). Gotta NOT spoil the girl, though it's impossible up here with her relatives constantly throwing presents her way.

Turkey time tonight!!! We've had some lovely food up here and it's been virtually impossible to eat properly here, keep on with my WW program. Oh, well...after the holidays, I'll resume the careful eating, but for now, I'll just try and limit gross intake.

Have a wonderful holiday and a great 2007, everybody!!!

x a

Blaaaaaaah!

I just found out I've gotten an A- in both the copyediting and content editing courses I just finished. There's some confusion about whether I need to have a combined A or an A- in those courses, plus the production editing course I'm taking in January, in order to be able to get an editing placement once I'm done my courses in April 2007. As I started my editing certificate program in January 2006, when the placement requirement was a mark of A-, I'm hoping that's the requirement and not the A they've decided on for those students starting the program in the fall of 2006. Whatev. I'm mighty pleased that I got an A- (though peeved I evaded that elusive A or A+) and can now rest and relax over Christmas. I have sent out a few resumes in the past week and have some friends working on getting me some contacts in the publishing industry so that I can take on a part-to-full-time job in the new year. I really want to really get my brain going again plus bring home some bacon so we can really get going with these house renos. We went and looked at a great house around the corner, in a cul-de-sac, and what I expected to be selling for $450K or so is actually selling for $644K...Oh, my God!!! Well, there go the plans of getting out of this olde-tyme house and into a newer one...I'll just have to live with these authentic but somewhat despised 6" floorboards and damned French windows. Blaaaaaah!!!! The next goal is to redo the bathroom but it's slow-going. We've dawdled all fall, but have gone so far as to decide what we want...now we just need to GIT 'ER DONE!!!! (Hub's least favourite saying) Well, enough rambling...off to git cleaned up for the main hombre's arrival...

x a

Little Finnish Christmas Pics

These little pics kill me b/c they're so cute. They're from the Helsingin Sanomat (Helsinki's newspaper's) website. A-frickin-dorable!!!

I thought I'd just write a little more to add to my last post, since it was a bit of a downer. :-)

That is all.

December Doings

Well, I wrote a blog entry and it disappeared into the ether so I'll try again. Basically, here are the things that have happened now in December. Sadly, and I just found this out this morning, my godmother, Aino, died in Finland last Thursday, Dec. 14. I loved her...she was a very funny, kind lady and I hope she got my Christmas card with a picture of me, Hub and V so she remembered how much I loved her. Very sad. Otherwise, had our Finnish family Xmas at my mum's this past weekend. Tons of relatives and a good time. Now we're preparing for a trip up north to see hub's family over the holidays. Sure it'll be cold as a witch's T--, but that's to be expected when you're practically at the Arctic Circle. In other news, I've now lost almost 30 of my Hungarian pounds and I'm thrilled!!! About six more to go!!!



That's about it for me for now. Happy holidays, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, etc. to everyone!!!

x a

GLAMOUR QUEENS, ANNE & MARY!!!

Here's a pic of me and my best girl; I was trying to find this one to go with my last post but, instead, posted that last pic. This was taken on my 35th birthday, when I was with child and didn't know it. Good thing I drank a ton of red wine and smoked like a chimney that night. Anyhoo, these beautiful frocks were courtesy of either Goodwill or the Sally Anne...quite lovely, no?! The lipstick, which was supposed to be quite garish, actually looks pretty on us...I wonder what that says...once again, HAPPY BDAY, MARE!!!!

My Best Girl's Birthday

I forgot to mention that today's my best girl Mary's 40th birthday!!! Happy Birthday, Kukla! I love you and am so happy you're my best friend!

And this pic is for Mary on her birthday because, of everyone I know, I wish she could make this phone call. She deserves to win the Cash for Life a few times. :-)

Rainy Day

(Apropos to nothing, doesn't this patio look inviting? The lady in the red dress and hat (?) interests me. How old do you think she is?)

Hey all, It's a rainy day here in my small town and I'm feeling a bit out of sorts. Did some yelling this morning but am feeling antsy for the hub to come home from his business trip (day six today, and he'll be home in 1.5 hrs). I think I need a big break or at least a long soak in the hot tub (did I tell you we were getting our hot tub fixed? No? Well, the thing hasn't been working since before we went to Hungary and we finally got off our asses and did something about it. Now, if I did it right, it should be shocked and ready to go, a nice surprise for hub for when he gets home.). When hub goes on these long business trips, days are very long, esp. if he's away during the weekend. I really need to relax once he gets back b/c I rarely fully do b/c I'm solely responsible for looking after our little angel (who's tested my patience many, many times these past few days).

Blaaaaah! Picked up a Starbucks latte and am just doing this before I go get the girl and get her changed into a pretty dress for Daddy's arrival at the airport. Was subject to a colossal temper tantrum, btw, this morning when I refused to let her wear what is essentially a very fancy princess dress, which would not have been appropriate to wear to school on a rainy and coolish day. Don't exactly want to the reputation of the mother who doesn't know how to dress her kid for the weather.

In other news, I think I'm down (weight) and have seven more lbs to go until I get to my goal weight!!! Very exciting!



I'm trying not to buy any more clothes until I reach goal b/c they'll end up being big on me. Shoes are okay, though, and I forced myself to get two pairs of the most darling little decorated mules yesterday at the Nine West outlet mall in Toronto. I might have also bought an adorable pink purse, too, one that fits a book, wallet, phone, big bottle of water and some lipgloss. It's all a blur, I'm so tired from the past few days.

Meant to say that, in my blog below with the photos, the cute guy whose alter ego is Borat is Sasha Baron Cohen. He is sooooo adorable!!!! Sigh...

Well, off to get the hub and reunite our little family. Have a great weekend!

x A