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100 Things About Leah

January 19, 2009 By 13 Comments

Leah! As you've never seen her before...

1. I live in Calgary, Alberta. I moved from Guelph, Ontario in May.

2. I work in social work, although I am not a social worker and never will be.

3. I work with mental health and some days I think dealing with my clients will make me go crazy. It happened today. They drove me crazy, and now I have problems

4. I feel bad for you, because if all of us do this then you will have to read 500 things about Five Blondes.

5. I am “living in sin” with my boyfriend, and despite my Catholic family and Catholic upbringing, my entire family is okay with it. Even my grandparents – thank you!

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Filed Under: answer, leah, question

100 Things About Lauren!

January 16, 2009 By 14 Comments

Lauren

Hiii everyone! So I noticed that a few of my sisters were doing this “100 Things About Me” post, so the other day in a point of procrastination I decided to start one up. Well wouldn’t you know it I would get like 20 done in about 5 minutes, then stop for a while, then I would think of something else, and go back and write another 10-20 things. Well anyways, enjoy learning about me!

1) I have a love/hate relationship with being the youngest of five girls. On one hand, I get spoiled (any of my sisters will back me up on this), but on the other hand, I have to go through everything last and that kind of sucks too.

2) When Microsoft Word tells me that a word is misspelled, but really it’s just a word my dictionary doesn’t know, I always add it. For example: bloggers, McHottie, favourite (okay, that’s just Canadian), stickie, and fiveblondes. I just like my documents to not have those annoying red squiggly lines under the words.

3) I should never be allowed to drink white wine.

4) I LOVE The Hills and The City, and none of my roommates do.

5) This makes it hard to watch them both, so I always end up watching them online.

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Filed Under: lauren

Winter Engagement Photos

January 13, 2009 By 22 Comments

The wedding is drawing closer (my bridesmaid Michelle P informed me on Saturday night that it was 217 days away – how’s that for a bridesmaid that’s on the ball!), and Kent is moving even further away from me in a couple weeks (4 hours – booo) right after our trip to Calgary (yay! A whole week with Kent? Craziness). I realized that we really need to do our engagement pictures as soon as possible, as in hopefully while we still live together on weekends, or before Kent gets caught up in restaurant insanity in Toronto, and works every day of the week.

Considering our town seems like the snow capital of the world, especially this year, this only means one thing: Engagement photos out in the cold and snow. I’m not sure shivering is my best look. I’ve been looking at winter engagement photos online to see what I should wear. I’ve decided that it does not look very good when couples are standing in the snow wearing just a shirt or even sweater – they mostly just look cold! Luckily, I have the most beautiful black dress coat to wear. Leah has the same one and she can attest to the fact that you can’t wear it anywhere without multiple people complimenting you on it. It’s even better that it’s a few seasons old now and still in style to the max! Hmm… I just read a suggestion that since you are the bride, you could wear white for your photos. I like the idea of wearing a white coat. Here are some other ideas I’ve seen that I like.

There’s a cute coffee shop in town where we could do something like this:

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Love this couple and her coat:

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This coat is awesome as are the red boots! All of this couple’s engagement photos looked so much fun and they looked so happy. Happy engagement photos are where it’s at.

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This couple was laughing in 90% of their photos, which I loved.

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Sledding!

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I’ll leave it at that – hopefully mine turn out just as great!

Filed Under: micaela, photography, Wedding

The beginning of a wonderful relationship

January 11, 2009 By 15 Comments

On boxing day mom, Lauren and I headed out to London to brave the crowds with the intention of purchasing a few things in our mind.  Mom was looking for candelabras for Mic and Kent’s wedding, Lauren was just along for the ride and I was going to buy a SLR digital camera.  I spent a few days researching cameras, as did mom and we both decided that the Canon Rebel was the camera that most suited my needs.  So we searched flyers and the internet to find the best deal.

In London we first went to a local camera store to ask them their opinion and find out their prices.  They were really helpful in telling us the many differences between the Canon Rebel XTi and XSi as well as the main differences between Nikon and Canon (in my price range).  However as it turned out they were not able to give us the best deal so we headed off to Best Buy.  They had a deal going on boxing day that included the XSi, 18-55mm lens, battery pack, extra battery and nice case and if you bought that you could also get a cheap 8 GB memory card and 55-200mm lens. BUT when we got to the store we found out that part of the deal is only available online, so I called my wonderful husband and he bought it online for me!  Mom, Lauren and I thought it was kind of funny that we went all the way to London to do our shopping when really I could just have done it on my computer at home.

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The camera ended up coming a day earlier then the shipping calculator estimated and I got the camera on Dec 30!  I havn’t used it as much as I want to and I know I will use it LOTS, however I just need to get past this busy time!  Scott and I are really busy in the barn shipping pigs.

Here are a few pictures that I’ve taken-  Expect LOTS more!!

Chase infront of the Christmas tree

Chase infront of the Christmas tree

Zoomed out with a reflection in the window.

Zoomed out with a reflection in the window.

Some of the alcohol at a 50th birthday party we went to

Some of the alcohol at a 50th birthday party we went to

Filed Under: photography

Not my destiny

January 9, 2009 By 14 Comments

Let me tell you a bit about my blogging process.  You’re dying to know, I can feel it.

This morning I got to work and thought to myself, Self, you should blog today.  So I opened up Admin and clicked “New Post” with no particular subject in mind. That was, oh, 10AM.

It’s now 4:30 and I’ve made pretty much zero progress, except to write about how little progress I’ve made.

So I’m going to close with this (as I obviously was not destined to write a full post today):

We were delighted and honored to be nominated for the 20-Something Bootleg award for Best Group Blog :)   If you nominated us, we thank you.  Now there’s the matter of winning (we are nothing if not competitive).

We have some items that we have been planning on holding a giveaway for.  So if we win, we will give away these fantastical eletronic items (and likely other some other equally fantastical things) to the wonderful readers of our blog.  And if we don’t win, well, we’ll give them away anyways – we’re just that happy to be nominated :D

You need to be a member of the 20 Something Bloggers group to be eligible to vote – so naturally you need to be a 20-something and you need to be a blogger.  If you’re not either of these things, we won’t hold it against you ;)

Vote!

Aaaand, let’s make this a “questions” post.  Have any questions for any (or all) of us?  Ever wondered if we secretly hate each other?  Which one of us is the “black sheep”?  Who’s the easiest to share a room with?  Ask away!

Filed Under: blogging, question

Bus Strike Adventures

January 8, 2009 By 10 Comments
OC Transpo Bus

OC Transpo Bus

For the past week (and before the Christmas break), I’ve had to find different ways of getting to school almost every day because there are no buses running.  Wednesdays I have no class, but I had to be at school to help recruit for cheerleading, so I was going to walk the hour to school, then someone recommended to me that I should take the shuttles (Carleton has school buses running from different parts of the city every half hour to help students get to their classes).  The closest shuttle stop from me is a half hour walk at our nearest shopping center/O-train stop, so I got bundled up, and left at about 3:45, since I had to be at school for 5, and figured that would give me enough time.  I got to the stop at about 4:20, and noticed a sign on the times board saying “Due to the weather, the shuttles will not be running today”.  There I was, boots on, with slippers underneath, down filled mitts, tights, yoga pants, a short sleeved shirt, a long sleeved shirt, a sweater, a down coat, and BOTH hoods on (I later got made fun of when I mentioned that I took off my hoodS.).  In other words, I was totally bundled up, and totally pissed that I walked half an hour to a bus stop where no buses would be coming.

After I got over my initial shock, and about 5 minutes of trying to call a cab (obviously busy every time I called, because how else would people get around these days?), I walked to the nearest Second Cup and called a teammate to come pick me up and bring me to school.  On our way to school I find out that they had changed the recruiting times from 5-7 to 4-6.  It was now 5:20.  So I get to school, take off my layers (and my hoods), and starting trying to recruit people.  Now has anyone ever had to attempt to recruit university aged guys to try out for a cheerleading team? NOT fun, let me tell you that.  Pretty much our approach is “if you think the guy is hot and jacked, go hand him a flier and chat him up”.  I’m clearly not very good at this.  I attempted to recruit for about 20 minutes, then a group of us decided it would be better if we’d just go to the residence and try to force people to try out hand them out there.  Well.  In order to get to the tunnels (do you really think we would walk outside?), we had to walk past one of the campus bars.  Now you should know that one of our favorite sayings is “Our drinking team has a cheerleading problem”, and we do live up to that saying.  We decided it would be easier for us to talk to people if we had a beer in us.  Well one beer turned into two, and two into three, and next thing you know we’ve forgotten all about handing out fliers, and were now talking about siblings having the same tongues, and things only the fiveblondes would understand like “touch tongues!”, and living on farms/ranches, since the group I was there with consisted of two sisters from Texas-Kelly and Kristina, and one guy who works on a farm-Matt (did I mention that he also is from a family of five siblings?  Only one sister though).  Kristina, by the way is my twin.  If you are looking at pictures from my cheerleading you’d better look twice to make sure that it’s actually me, because we have to do the same thing.  We were then talking about staying for trivia night, when I got a call that Krys was waiting for me outside res commons-almost all the way across campus.  So I grab my coat, say my goodbyes and run across campus…only to be met by a chihuahua in Krys’ truck!  Now I assure you, I wasn’t drunk enough to be seeing things…okay well maybe I was, but there was honestly a chihuahua in the truck.  I’ve never seen one up close, and Radar is enough to turn me off of them.  No offense to anyone who has one, but chihuahuas are creepy looking dogs in my opinion.  It turns out that this lovely dog is staying at my house for a couple of days while Krys’ sister visits us from Montreal.  I’ll let you all know how this goes.

I had totally forgotten that we (me, Emily and Krys) had planned a Monopoly date with Krys’ friend Dan and his girlfriend Felicia.  Monopoly is a touchy subject in our house.  We usually end the game in a big fight, and a win for Krys.  This time was different though.  This time I won!  It was a crazy game, and I didn’t quite understand how I won, but I’m not going to fight it, I’m going to take that win and be happy that I’m the one who broke Krys’ winning streak.  Oh yea, he also wins EVERY single  game we play, including Risk, Clue, and Whoonu.

Anyways, that was my wonderful adventure with the OC Transpo strike.  I was only planning on making it about my adventure getting to school for the recruitments, but I tend to ramble when I’m bored, and have 5 hour breaks in my schedule, which I do every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

Filed Under: Cheerleading, friends, internet, lauren, life, ottawa, random, university, winter

Tuesdays With Micaela #1 – A Day at the Beach

January 6, 2009 By 12 Comments

My blogging New Years resolution was to blog every Tuesday. So even though Leah already blogged today, I am trumping her post because there is no way I am going to lose on the first Tuesday of the year!

Kent and I started this year out in an interesting way. For as long as I’ve known him, Kent has been a water rat. He is not afraid of diving right into the water, no matter how cold. His dream has always been to do a polar bear swim on New Years Day. For those of you who don’t come from arctic temperatures, polar bear swims happen all over the place on January 1st in Canada. All of the absolutely insane people who want to participate go to the beach and run into freezing cold water. Us normal people wait until July. Our friends Dane and Michelle came along to cheer Kent on. For them and I there was no question – we knew there was no way we were going in there.

We arrived in Port Dover, where the swim was happening, and Kent and I went into a store where all of the future polar bears were waiting. The temperature was negative 10 degrees celsius. Kent got dressed in his bathing suit and robe and they listened to a pep talk where they were told that if you don’t put your head under, it doesn’t count! Everyone started chanting “THE WATER IS WARM! THE WATER IS WARM!” over and over. They were also told that the lake had frozen over the night before and there was a hold cut into the ice which all the polar bear swimmers had to jump into! I hugged Kent a lot and told him to be careful.

I tried to watch Kent jump in but there was so much bumpy ice that was really hard to walk on, and soo many people, that I couldn’t see a thing which was disappointing. Definitely not a spectator sport. Here’s what I did see.

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I spotted him with the other swimmers before they went in… and didn’t see him until:

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After he was already finished. Smiling, which is a good sign!

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The crowd.

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Finally inside! Celebrating the fact that he is a full fledged polar bear.

Kent said he probably would do it again next year, but he definitely doesn’t have me convinced to do it, even though he took it like a champion.

Would you ever do a polar bear swim?

Filed Under: beach, micaela, winter Tagged With:

First things first; a love story.

January 6, 2009 By 20 Comments

Having a job that requires me to provide one on one support clients with mental illnesses, I must listen to others stories and problems and woes all day long, all the while encouraging them and recognizing their strengths and positive attributes. This seems to come easily to me, and does not often bother me as I adore hearing people’s stories. “What’s your story?” is a question I love to ask, but dread being asked. That dread is something I am working on, and I think it has a lot to do with the the fact that the sole reason I am in Calgary is because I followed my heart out here. I hate to say, but in the history of my current relationship it has always been me that has done the occassionally immature running away, the leaving. Tim has been the most patient, loving boyfriend over the past three years that a young woman could ever have, and when I found out there was a possibility of him moving elsewhere, it was a no-brainer for me. I am lucky to share a home and a heart with Tim, who has consistently gone way out of his way to ensure that the two of us take advantage of each and every opportunity that comes our way, to have as much fun and as much love as two people could possibly have.

The first time I brought the name Tim into the FB household, my Mom could tell right away that I was “smitten.” Tim wasn’t like any of the other guys I had dated (read: he was intelligent and sane). It may have taken this proper, traditional boy a few months, a lot of hints and even a pretty obvious kiss to actually get around to asking me out, but once he did we were inseparable. Still are, really.

Alternatively, my favourite part of our story is spending our first summer together, apart. We planned for that first summer together to be perfect, with lazy nights by the fire, driving for hours to see each other, doing anything for that person; but for some crazy reason Mom convinced me to take a job that involved me moving way North to a fishing lodge on an island in a town called Nakina – a full days drive from Tim and all things related to home. Tim and I had only been dating four months at that point, and most people would say “So what?” to a four month relationship – but it was always special with Tim and I. We both knew that the both of us were in it for the long haul, and we had that summer planned out perfectly … but it wouldn’t be that way after all. I left in May for four months, and as I packed and talked to my new bosses, I was learning more and more about this fishing lodge. I wasn’t sure how to break it to Tim that there was no internet. Or regular use of a phone. I could use a “party line” (shared phone line between a bunch of lodges) for about 15 minutes a week – but I wasn’t sure how that was going to fly with him. The week before I left, Tim worked hard to ensure that I wouldn’t forget about him – gifts, homemade meals, reminders of our time together and promises of letters all summer long.

Which brings me to the point of my story – The Love Letters. Ooooh, the Love letters. The love letters. The love letters. Three words I can repeat over and over to myself in my head and never get bored of them. Tim promised to write me letters all summer long, a promise he kept over and over and over again. At this point of the story, people who know Tim and I are usually like … Tim wrote you love letters? Like, good ole’ fashioned love letters, not e-mails? Tim the studious, dutch, concrete-construction working farmer knows how to write love letters? I know, not your typical candidate for being very romantically inclined, but I have a box full of letters, every word of which I will cherish forever. Even if in the future if Tim and I aren’t together, I will keep those letters as a reminder of how much expressible love was possible from a man to a woman. And every night shift he works when I am home alone, and questioning to myself why I am putting myself through the loneliness I pull out a letter. Each letter started off with the same simple phrase

“First things first…”

It is meant to be followed with “I love you” but by the end of the summer the last half wasn’t even necessary. It is simply an example of the knowledge of what it so important in maintaining a long distance relationship – the affirmation of undying love, the knowledge that the other persons feelings and emotions always come first.

 

Filed Under: Calgary, love, relationships, summer work Tagged With:

New Years Partying

January 4, 2009 By 8 Comments

This New Years was the first year where I’ve actually not wanted the new year to begin. For some reason I was dreading the beginning of 2009, I guess I’m beginning to feel old and do not want the time to pass by so fast! I realized time was passing by so quickly when walking in to church on Christmas eve. This Christmas was me and Scott’s 2nd married Christmas! Where the heck did the time go?

Anyways, that is not the point of this blog. This blog is to show you how I celebrated the arrival of 2009. We started it with a jump- right into a warm pool! A great way to start the year if I do say so myself!

Before we went to the party we had a Chinese food dinner party at my house and Mic, Stef and I played with my new camera!

Mic and I partied in the New Year at our friend Shawn’s pool party. His family recently insulated the pool and hot tub room so a pool party was a must. There were lots of people there, many different groups of friends who are now all connected, it was a lot of fun! We spent the night talking, drinking, celebrating 2009, swimming and sitting in the hot tub! Here are some of the pictures from the night.

The party room ^

The boys showed off by doing flips and belly flops into the pool.

The full hot tub!

Mic and Michelle rocking out to Elton John on the big screen!

See how the other FiveBlondes celebrated behind the cut.

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Filed Under: Holidays

Taking the party down a notch.

January 3, 2009 By 11 Comments

As I mentioned in our Years in Review post, one of my resolutions was to find cheap/free fun things to do in Calgary. This has many purposes – to help out my bank account a little, to get away from the partying lifestyle that has been the last five years of my life and to have more purely fun experiences that help me to get to know the entirety of my city better, and not just what pubs are good (Joyce on Fourth) and what bar to go Wednesday after work that has the most cute guys (ahem, the Metropolitan Grill on Eighth ave).

Here is what has been brainstormed so far:

  • Go to/rent movies (this may seem like a giveaway, but honestly I don’t go see many movies or rent many either)
  • Go for a walk with my best friend twice a week (Calgary has beautiful walking trails downtown along the river)
  • Tea parties
  • Glenbow Museum (and if this is enjoyable, others as well)
  • Go up the Calgary Tower, both during the day and at night
  • Go to the mountains (Banff – Erica lived there for one winter!, Canmore, etc.)
  • Go showshoeing or cross country skiing (you can rent equipment in Kananaskis for a low price)
  • Visit Bragg Creek
  • Board game nights (Settlers of Catan is hands down my fave, but I need more awesome TWO PLAYER games)
  • Visit my best friends sister and brother in law for free meals and to fawn over their newborn
  • Go to real estate open houses (you know, check out our options in case either of us decides we can afford to buy a house, and check out our options)
  • Volunteer somewhere
  • Cook/bake together (i.e. I will take any excuse to eat chocolate chip cookie dough)
  • Have postcard writing nights to help us to be better long distance friends (I think this one is my favourite)
  • Go to the library (I am a book worm!)
  • Buy a cheap secondhand guitar and learn how to play it
  • Use my new Wii Fit twice a week

This is where you come in – I am looking for your suggestions! I am not necessarily looking to take up a new hobby (i.e. Erica – don’t suggest knitting) but what do YOU like to do with your partner and/or best friend that could be included on my list? I appreciate your recommendations! THANK YOU!

Also – One little comment I left awhile ago really paid off! You must check THIS awesomeness out. If you want, skip to the 1:20 mark to see the goodness.

Filed Under: advertising, answer, Calgary, friends, life
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