something worth thinking about...

so, as i laid awake in bed last night evaluating life's situations for both myself and some of my friends who i have talked to lately, i had a revelation. i'm sure i knew this before, but the reminder was healthy....

life is all about attitude! we have all been dealt a different lot in life... it's not always easy, but we're never alone. I've been so impressed by some people who i have seen have been through the mill and back, and have stayed calm though it all and still carry a smile on their face and joy in their hearts. i wanna be like that! what do we have to complain about, really? is it worth all the stress that's stealing our happiness? i honestly believe that no matter the situation, our response and our attitude is our choice. Personally, i'd rather smile and enjoy the ride wherever it's taking me than be consumed by grief.

This is my challenge to you... don't sweat it! Choose your attitude. And for goodness sake, LAUGH! : )

my eventful trip "home"...

my return to montreal this past week reminded me of why i loved it there so much. there is an endless supply of fun to be had, and it's not hard to feel the love when i'm with them. from the moment i arrived, there were smiles and hugs all around. we have such a tight group of friends there... something that is rare to find and cannot be taken for granted. i also got to finally meet "the new guy" (ernest tan, another member of the st. bruno squad, with the infamous TSW) and discovered an instant friendship with him : )

after a sleepless night, i spent 8 hours on the train on wednesday. this used to be a pretty painful ride for me, but after this past summer, it's become quite comfortable ; ) when i got there, lindsay was there waiting to pick me up (thanks!) and we immediately headed to the CSA to go to the gym to play badminton with christophe, marc, and melodie for an hour and a half. it was quite fun : ) following that workout, the five of us went back to lindsay's place in st. bruno and the guys made dinner for us girls while we sat around and chit-chatted. they're great cooks!

on thursday, i got up early with lindsay and went into work for the day. i surprised the guys with my presence in the cafeteria when they came down for breakfast. they seemed pretty happy to see me after having been gone for a year and a half now. in the evening then we all met up at 'le Cage aux Sports' (a sports restaurant) to watch the hockey games... well actually, we met in 2 shifts in order to accomodate peoples schedules. there were 4 of us there at 7:30 for dinner and to watch the flyers game, and then some people had to leave while about 6 others showed up at 9:30 to watch the canadiens game.

on friday i got up early again and went in to work with lindsay, but decided to go home again at 10:30 because i really needed a nap (to catch up from tuesday's sleepless night) and also so that i could get a bit of cover letter writing work done. it turned out to be quite a productive day... i slept for 3 hrs and sent out 3 more resumes (yay)! at night, we all met up at steph's apartment and headed over together to Spurs... montreal's one and only country bar : ) despite the fact that none of my friends are real country music fans like i am, they all enjoy much fun when we go there... and they can't go without me, so this event was a given. i've always said, it's not where you are, but who you're with. anyways, for me, there's nothing better than dancing to the tunes from a live band and sitting around a table with all my friends, beltin' out the lyrics to garth brooks... ahhhh, good memories! this was also the first time i got to see nick since he couldn't make it out thursday night, so that was even more exciting for me. he's the best : )

saturday was sleep-in day, and then in the afternoon steve and ernest came over to lindsay's apartment so that i could show them my pics from the summer... well actually, we only got about half way through them... sorry, i have a ridiculous number of photos! then after supper, we got all dressed up in our hawaiian attire, and headed over to carolyn and eric's apartment for a party. they are moving to toronto, so they decided to have a hawaiian party for their going away. it was fun! they have this dance pad thingy that you hook up to the play station or whatever and you follow the steps of the dancer on the tv and you get points based on how well you follow, hehe. we ALL had our turn at it... we discovered that the boys are quite good at dancing! eric, nick, and steph were the dance masters of the night : )

on sunday, lindsay and i went out for brunch with jamie and melodie. they are both engaged to be married this coming summer, so we spent the whole time discussing rings and dresses, etc. it was a lot of girly-type fun : ) then we headed over to karen's house (bryan's new girlfriend who i just met for the first time this week.... she's a nice, very fun girl!) for bryan's birthday party. basically we all just sat around and played board games for the afternoon, had dinner, and then went home. since i was out at the time, i had to record my show... so when we got back home then, i watched Invasion : ) i love that show! and then it was my bedtime.

on monday morning, i went in to work to say hi to steve and robert (my supervisor and boss who were away on business on thursday and friday when i was there), and say goodbye to everybody else... then i caught my bus/train and was on my way back home again : (

i was lectured by pretty much everyone though for the fact that i purchased a return ticket for myself and wasn't staying indefinitely... i was firmly instructed to be back again within a month. if only i had the money! : ( oh how i would love to have a job back there again... i miss you guys already!!

my first picture post!

My cousin, Cheryl, the daughter of my dad's older brother (Uncle Ed), got married on January 13th so I just wanted to share a few pics with you guys... I'm very happy for her! : ) I think she looks beautiful and she married a really great guy (Frank Smyslo). And their daughter, Stella, is so adorable! They live in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and had their wedding in Curacao (which is an island in the southern Caribbean). Unfortunately I couldn't go cause I'm poor, but my parents were able to go celebrate with them for a week. I'm not super close with her since she lives so far away and her parents are divorced and stuff, but she is the only cousin I have who's the same age as me, so we have some nice childhood memories together...

speak UP!

there is history in the making with this little lady today! let me tell ya about it...

a) i voted!! for the first time in my life! : ) I'm quite proud of myself. (Side Note: my little brother who just turned 18 nine days ago also voted for the first time today.... so i'm a little slow... but that's besides the point)

b) not only did i vote, but i also went on the first day of the advance polls and waited in line for 45 mins! how's that for some enthusiasm?! i was actually thinking ahead this time (as opposed to the last election) knowing that i would be in montreal (again) on election day...

c) i actually watched the election coverage on tv tonight with interest!! never fear, though, my friends... katie was not abducted and replaced by someone who looks and talks remarkably like her (like all the creepy people in my favorite tv series -- Invasion)... i have no intentions of making a habit out of this political nonsense... although i must admit that it gave me the same kind of pride that i got from watching the Superbowl and the Calgary Stampede for the first time in my life. i guess i kinda had an invested interest this time since a family friend was running for the conservatives in the Nickel Belt riding... (she ended up losing miserably, but that's no surprise... no offense!)

and last but not least... on a somewhat unrelated subject...

c) i had to ASK for a goodbye hug from one of the chesters this morning!! (you know who you are... :-P) this has certainly never happened before... and should never happen again!

so anyways, now that we officially have a conservative leader for a change and are stuck with the minority government thing once again, i wanna hear what you guys have to say about it (being that i am completely uninformed), good or bad?! And steveng, i expect a full 3 paragraphs out of you ; ) ...you'll never get another opportunity to talk to me about your precious politics again when i actually care to listen! hehe

another lonely night...

Since I'm thinking, I thought I'd write it down... (I'm aspiring to be more like Julie! hehe)

Well first of all, I finally have official plans to go back to Montreal to visit my most precious friends there... Oh, how I have missed them after two years or something! I am very thankful that so many of them have kept in touch with me since I have left and proven to be true friends. That has been a real blessing to me : ) So ya, I'm going there next week on Wednesday, the 18th... and Lindsay doesn't want to let me leave. Since she is currently living alone and my ex-bedroom is empty now, so she wants me to just stay and hang out there until I finally find a job (....seriously considering ; ) hehe). I love Montreal, the hockey capitol of the world... I had such a great time when I was there, great memories, and an awesome job (that I would love to have back now)!

On that note, the other thing I have been thinking about is this whole job situation (sorry to bring it up again). I have not had good luck finding job postings within Canada : ( but on a brighter note, there are openings in the US. I have actually found a few that look exciting to me.... I feel like I have very little confidence in myself though. The long silences or no response after sending out my resume gets kinda depressing after so many times. I really want to start working and being active with my life.... all this sitting around home unproductively sucks.

recap of recent history...

Ok, so in order to appease my friend steveng, I guess it's time for me to write something here again. Honestly though, NOTHING is new!! But you all know that I can babble... so here we go... you asked for it!

Seriously, I have done absolutely nothing this week.... I have been the laziest and boringest person ever. I blame the influence of my sister for that. Thank goodness she went back to London today... I can finally start to be productive again instead of being trapped in front of the TV with her and her movies and stuff for hours! I did watch the movie 'Ray' this week though and I did very much enjoy that. What else... ? Ummm, well... YAY Team Canada!! :-D Of course I watched my hockey and was very proud of our junior boys! Then I applied for a couple jobs these past couple days... I need more patience I think cause I've been expecting immediate results and the world just doesn't work that way unfortunately. Tonight I also talked on the phone to my friend Ange who is getting married this coming summer... I'm gonna be her MC!! : ) yay I feel important, hehe. And I'm also trying to make plans to go to Montreal next week or something to pay a visit to my good friends there. Um, and now the only thing that I am doing is watching my Amy be a spazz. It's fun. Really. Not really. Oh ya, and also, Ryan now realizes that I hold insane sleeping patterns, so he thinks it's fun to come online and start talking to me at 4 a.m. now on a regular basis.... BAD! Must stop!! :-P I seriously need to fix my sleep life. No joke.

REWIND.
I forgot to tell you about New Years... although there's not much to say. It turned out basically the same as last year... maybe less dramatic... and that's good... kinda. Trisha and I went to Waterloo together to go to a house party with a bunchload of our friends. First of all, Trisha, Erin, Gaby, Eric, and I went to Ryan and Jeremy's place and Jer made a spaghetti dinner for us. Then we took a "short walk" (20 mins) over to Darcy and Mike's place to join in the festivities. The usual shanannagans went on up until midnight (ie. poker, fooseball, and gossip), and then things changed. It all started with Pat streaking as the clock struck 12, wearing nothing but a party hat where it counts. Following that was a wedgie war with Ryan and Rich targeting Jeremy.... and it was all captured on camera thanks to Gaby! Boys are so mean. Actually, the camera captured much of the rest of our evening, although nothing significant occured after that point... just lots of hugs. After we all starting crashing and people starting dispersing, Trisha and I went back and stayed the night at Ryan and Jeremy's place (since I no longer have a home in Waterloo). By noon we finally woke up and decided to be lazy and watch a movie (40 Year Old Virgin) before heading back home to Stratford. Good times had by all... and that's the making of memories.