Oct
6
Cowboys and Shower Curtains
Filed Under Calgary, animals | 21 Comments
Tim and I went to the Canadian Rodeo Tour Championship today, no pictures because … well all rodeos pretty much look the same. Generally winners are decided upon based on times, lasso-ing skills, sheer brute, manly cowboy strength, speed, and general overall craziness for actually choosing to sit upon a 3000 lbs animal while its testicles are being yanked so hard that it wants to eat you. I don’t even watch the bull-riding anymore. I witnessed a horrible accident at the Calgary Stampede earlier this summer and I because of it I now choose to hide my face behind Tim’s back and whimper for the 8 seconds rather than watch and have heart palpitations for 8 seconds.
The real winners, in my books, are the (sexy) cowboys and their (even sexier) cowboy names. Pregnant women and bloggers like Swistle should go to the nearest rodeo to be inspired by these amazing men and women. Okay, moreso the men than the women, but I will get to that.
Cowboy Names, in order of preference:
1.) Come Bouvier (They pronounced it as in “Come over to my house for dinner,” but I pictured it more like “Co-Mee.” Just gorgeous!)
2.) Cimmaron Gerke (Simm-ah-run Gur-Kee. WOW! Be still my heart, and co-mee over to my house for dinner tonight, I will spoon feed you Bananas Foster for dessert and then we can talk about your muscles.)
3.) Tied for third are Blade Young and Dean Edge (Hello Blade and Dean, welcome to my dreams.)
4.) Rocky Dallyn (Like my old boss’ Welsh pronounciation of “darling.” Rocky Dallyn sounds like a cowboy superhero. Little did I know, but it is my favourite kind of superhero. Okay, well it is now.)
5.) Dallas Frank (Sounds like a country singer. Dallas has probably got an edge, and a real knack with the cowgirls. I picture him, bottle of beer in hand, leaning up against a bar in his little plaid shirt and cowboy hat chatting up all the ladies, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Hi Dallas! I am a lady, come chat me up - I, too, have a little twinkle in my eye…)
6.) Davey Shields Jr. (I just think this one sounds like a really strong name. A name that has lasted through generations. I bet Davey is a real stand-up guy,)
And the team cowboys (some events are team events) overall winners are:
Murray Linthicum and Dwight Wigemyr. (Dwight? Wigemyr? I know, right? But when you put the two together it just sounds so right. And Murray Linthicum - what a beautiful name.)
And then there are the cowgirls … Honestly they are all amazing, talented women but I am sorry ladies - you have awful names.
1.) Gaylene Buff (Gaylene? Really?)
2.) Aimee Willis (I envision the 28 year old redneck living in a trailer with 4 kids and her new boyfriend.)
The others were fine, nothing to write home about (literally, in this case! HA!) but not as lovely and imaginative as my cowboys. Even the horses and bulls get really awesome names. Our cats at home are names Herman and Dragon Baby, which are actually pretty awesome cat names, but dogs and cats generally have names like “Sadie” and “Patch” but these animals had names like “Border Denial” and “Street Dance” and “Gallant Warrior.” Now you have a whole other reason to watch the PBR channel while pregnant!
One more thing I am excited about - my new shower curtain! I have been admiring it for months and finally on Saturday I went out and bought it, and I want to share my excitement, because Tim apparently doesn’t get excited over things like shower curtains - come on Tim! It’s the little things in life. On that note, he also doesn’t get excited over cowboy names. One thing I am learning really well out here is being able to entertain myself! I kind of like it, it’s a new idea for me as I have been surrounded by lots of really awesome people the past 21 years and always had someone with as much energy as me entertaining me.
See that little hint of red on top of the toilet? Those are candles that are usually in the kitchen, but last week I woke up at 5:35am feeling really sick so Tim got up and drew me a bubble bath complete with those candles! It was so unbelievably sweet.
Also, I am currently becoming a surrogate Aunt. Currently as in, Nat’s sister is in the hospital RIGHT NOW having a baby boy! Be expecting some baby photos on here real soon. I am going to spoil the heck out of that little baby! Hopefully Nat’s sister has been to a rodeo lately, and got some good cowboy names!
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Aug
20
Confessions of a … Calgarian?
Filed Under Calgary | 4 Comments
Aside from my lonely weekend post a few days ago, I actually have been keeping myself quite busy. This is going to be a picture post, because I don’t feel like writing a lot right now.
Tim, his brother Adam and I went for drinks one night. Adam is in the air force and is in school to be a commercial airline pilot - can you say free flights anywhere? You see, this is why I keep Tim around. Free hotel rooms and free flights. What more could a girl ask for in a boyfriend?
Last Sunday (when the rest of the family arrived) we went to the Rodeo in Olds, Alberta. It was an absolute blast - girls apparently we have been to this rodeo before way back when, before Lauren was born.
One may ask - Leah, why do you speak of such rodeo and try to trick me with a camel? Well my friends, this was no regular rodeo. Actually, it was a regular rodeo. It just had a super sweet petting zoo. They also had a baby buffalo on a leash (can you say PETA?).
So cute, eh. Look at Tim’s mom and dad, they are the absolute cutest couple ever.
Okay, now for the buckin’ cowboys.
Okay, so there is no buckin’ happening in that photo, and there are no sexy cowboys … only some sheep and some cowbabies. But this is called “Mutton Bustin’” - it is a “sport” where little kids lie on the backs on white sheep and hold on for dear life while the sheep run around trying to hit a black sheep. When they hit the black sheep, they just stop. Stop dead in their tracks and the kids sometimes fly right off at this point. It alone was worth the $10.00 entry fee.
A few weeks ago, I met a girl from Montreal, Tina.
Tina decided she was better off in her hometown of Montreal, so she left to go back home. Tina - I miss you girl!
On to the salon - some of you asked for before and after shots. This is my before shot:
Honestly, the After wasn’t much different, but it was nicely thinned out a bit (I was getting a bit poufy) and highlighted. Also, hacked those split ends off.
It is just smoother and softer, it was taken up a bit in the backand the layers were evened out and increased. Can you tell Tim hates his picture taken? Maybe he is just embarrased about his hair in this one … I understand now, Tim. Isn’t he cute though? I love this boy a lot.I wore it curly today too, it is curling a lot nicer now that it has been trimmed.
You know what is funny? When girls go in to a salon and say - “Okay, I want to change my hair but I want to keep the colour and keep it the same length.” WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE THEN?? It drives me mental! Although, I am not completely innocent either. But I am thinking for Winter I want to go strawberry blonde. What do you think ladies? I am tossing the idea around in my head but would like some feedback! Once upon a time KAtelyn dyed her hair dark, dark chestnut brown and it looked absolutely angelic. Kate - you should put a picture up of you back then! Right after she did it, Kate and I went to the ski hill to teach and my Mom was there ski patrolling and Mom walked right by Kate and didn’t even recognize her. It was really that intense!
Word on the street is that Micaela is in a synchronized leg shaving competition in Toronto this week. If we are lucky maybe she will give us some tips. Mic - we need the DL on how you got yourself into this mess!
Aug
4
River Floatin’
Filed Under Calgary | 7 Comments
As you can probably tell from Kate’s post, I didn’t make it home for Oma and Opa’s Anniversary party. I was sad, but it being the first week of my new job I couldn’t take time off yet. Tim, being the awesome boyfriend that he is, said we had to make that day extra extra special because he could tell I was really bummed not to be at the Farm with everyone. And guess what kids? He succeeded! Instead of partying up with the fam, Tim and I and his best Calgary buddy Andrew decided to do some river floatin’.
The Elbow River, is a river running right through the city of Calgary and is fed by glaciers (read: is very clean unlike London’s Thames river). On a hot, sunny summers day you can find anywhere from zero to over 200 rafters floating down it. It is amazing! I love that people just jump in anywhere they want, everyone is so happy and friendly, people will readily trade you suntan lotion for beers, there are people of all ages, and it just brings about an overall great feeling of happiness and content. There is nothing more relaxing than plopping your butt in a boat and floating down a river for 3 hours.
Andrew is proof of just how relaxing it is. By the way, Andrew is a huge supporter of fiveblondes.com. He is our self-appointed unofficial blog manager. Go Andrew!
Side note: Look how awkwardly long I am in that one. I did a yoga class for the first time the other day and the instructor had to adjust many of the poses so that my long torso and even longer legs could actually do them. I looked like a weird, long, skinny rat while doing the Downward Dog.
Our next rafting trip will take us from my Aunt Lisa’s house to Andrew’s apartment - over 10 kilometres!!!
By the way Kate - thanks for the card! Tim and I love it. It may not look like it, but he even displayed it on our T.V. - something he has not done with any other cards!
Jun
26
An “I Love You” I Will Always Remember
Filed Under Calgary, cars, love, personal, relationships | 4 Comments
Tim and I have been in a relationship together for two years, seven months, and nineteen days, and approximately sixty-five thousand kisses. We are a pretty affectionate couple, and tell each other how much we love each other about seven or eight times a day, give or take a million. I will always fondly remember the first time he told me he loved me, but recently I had someone say those three magic words to me that may have even topped the first time he whispered them to me. It was … get ready … his mother! My possible future mother-in-law. I wouldn’t say that Tim’s mom and I are especially close or anything - I mean, I think she is a wonderful mother, and a great and very kind person and has never been anything less than supportive of me and Tim, but having lived two hours away from her while in University, topped with the fact that I don’t spend too many holidays there (because I can’t bear to leave my OWN family) .. well let’s just say that Tim has been to the Bontje farm on many many many more occasions than I have been to his.
The morning Tim and I took off on our adventure of a lifetime together, Tim’s mom, Maria, made us a big brekky and had some of her best friends over to say godbye to Tim (and me, I guess!). Well, by this time the car was jam-packed, we were prepared for the worst gas-mileage Tims ‘94 Mercury Grand Marquis had EVER gotten, and Maria leaned over to me and asked me not to murder her son, but to be patient with him as he has yet to realize that I am always right, and told me that she loved me then gave me a huge big loving welcome-to-the-family hug. And I, well I just just stood there dumbfounded while fighting back the tears. But I gained my composure, returned the love and hugged her back really hard. It was such a special moment, one that I will always remember. If Tim and I ever take the big walk down the aisle (alongside Mic and Kent), I can know that my new family will love me and treat me just as well as my current one.
As soon as we drove away I turned to Tim and said “YOUR MOM JUST TOLD ME THAT SHE LOVES ME!” Typically male, Tim looked at me confused and said … “So?”
