It was 1:30am on a busy Saturday night. I was working at The Pub with another bartender, Geo. Our friends were there, drinking raucously and joyfully carrying on. I was in the pass rolling cutlery while the dishwasher washed the floor. With two full pitchers in his hands, Geo walked through to deliver crisp beer to a thirsty table. He was walking, he was talking and in one second he was flying through the air, the freshly washed floor having created a surprisingly slippery surface. He landed, flat on his back – with two full pitchers of beer in his hands. “THE BEER IS OKAY!” he yelled out to a silent bar, full of witnesses to his potentially embarrassing situation. The crowd cheered and in one moment he became a legend. (2007)

It was the last day of my fourth year of University. I was running across campus in my pyjamas, with an 82 page final project in my hands. I hadn’t gone to bed the night before and I was scheduled to work at The Pub 15 minutes earlier. I was cursing my project partner for not having completed her portion of the project, causing me one last sleepless University night. My eyes had bags under them and my hair was noticeably greasy. I handed the project in just under deadline and drove to The Pub. I burst in to see two of my favourite coworkers and I looked at them and cried. I had just finished University and in that moment, my life was starting. (2008)

I was sitting cross-legged on the comfortable, dated, green leather couch, and Tim was on the computer in the bedroom. I was talking to Kate on the phone, exclaiming about a mutual friend’s freshly announced pregnancy. “I told her my sisters better not get pregnant soon or I’ll have to move home!” Kate, ever so nonchalantly, said “Well, then you’re going to have to move home.” I laughed it off, telling her I was kidding and no one was pregnant. “No, Leah. You’re going to have to move home soon.” My mind dropped and I told her to say it, to spell it out for me. “I’m pregnant,” she finally confirmed. I laughed and screamed and cried. “I have to put the phone down! TIM! TIM COME HERE!” With the phone sitting in my lap, I cried. I was feeling emotions I didn’t even know I knew how to feel. A new life was starting. (2010)

You want to know what else I am really good at? (No? Shocking. I’m going to tell you anyway). SLEEPING. I love sleeping. I am also really good at it – give me a pillow and a blanket and a hardwood floor and I am golden. Give me a pillow and a blanket and the floor of the busiest dance club in town on a Saturday night and I will snore away.

Since navigation and sleeping are my two best skills, that can only lead to one thing – I should become a professional traveler. A citizen of the world. I will navigate my way around any city or countryside and will sleep on any train, horse-drawn wagon or even the basket of my bicycle.

First up?

Paris. The girls and I went to Paris with our Mom about 10 years ago and I Paris, well, I loved all of France. I would live there in a heartbeat.

Me and the Eiffel tower are like two peas in the pod.

But why would I stop at Earth? I could definitely sleep in a space shuttle, even during take-off.

Me in space.

That is all, my apologies for wasting your time but I drive around a lot for work and these are actually the things I think about while on the road driving from client to client. Sometimes I forget to turn on the radio and then my imagination gets a little weird. And when you are a blogger, you just have to write these things down. You just do.

I’m hoping to do more of this (especially as springtime arrives) and encouraging my sisters to do it as well!

Sweater: Groggy -  from a store in Calgary that is no longer open. //Scarf: Gap // Flower necklace: Forever 21 // Bracelet: Micaela’s dresser // Leggings: Jacob // Boots: Ecco, from another store that is no longer in existence (thanks, economy).

Also, I’m a giant. Okay, I’m 5′10″ but this photo very much accentuates my height.

Messy hair! I kind of like it that way …

A photo that didn’t turn out too well, but I still liked it.

I found some amazeballs boots for Micaela that day and forced her to buy them so I hope she blogs about them soon! (Hint, hint)

My best friend is in broadcast journalism school and asked if she could make a video of me doing chores in the morning for a project and of course I agreed. Hello, what great blog fodder and who doesn’t love a vlog? HUGE thanks to my bff Leah – yes, we have the same name – for doing this!

So enjoy taking a peek into my current life, and also what life was like when we were kids and had to go to the barn when we misbehaved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NsH2FS3WrQ

You may remember when I had a health scare in November in which I was experiencing severe pain in my lung and an x-ray showed a lump on my lung. The lump eventually disappeared but I will always be grateful to our health care system for the treatment I had.

The time line and cost went as follows:

1.) Experienced severe pain in my left lung for about a week and a half. Cost: A few missed days of work.

2.) Went to the walk in clinic down the street. Cost: Zero dollars. Waiting time: 10 minutes. Benefit: I got a family doctor at that clinic as they happened to be accepting new patients (and still are – if you are in Calgary and looking for a family doctor let me know, I would be glad to refer you to them).

3.) Doctor prescribed x-rays and informed me that I likely had pleurisy. He also prescribed painkillers. Cost for a referral for x-rays and painkillers prescription: Zero dollars. (I never took the painkillers- if I had taken them there likely would have been some cost incurred)

4.) Went for the x-ray the following day. Cost: Zero dollars. Waiting time: About 5 minutes.

5.) The following week got a phone call from my new family doctor (we had a meet and greet the previous week to go over medical history). Needed to come get the results. Appointment booked for the following day.

6.) Had appointment with doctor, he went over the results with me, what the lump might be and informed me to go back for more x-rays the following day. Cost: Zero dollars. Waiting time: 10 minutes. Benefit: Doctor was extremely kind and understanding. He answered all of my questions and spent a bit of time talking to me.

7.) Went for second set of x-rays. Cost: Zero dollars. Waiting time: About 10 minutes.

8.) Doctor called when results came back – two days later. Booked an appointment for the following day.

9.) Another appointment with the doctor. Results came back normal. Cost: Zero dollars. Waiting time: 15 minutes.

All in all, I spent a total of about an hour waiting for doctors or x-rays and the total cost for the appointments and x-rays was zilch. Thank you, Canada. I love you. I have been receiving mail advertisements supporting a privatized health care system and for what it’s worth, I will be voting NO to privatized health care for the rest of my life, so that my children and grandchildren will get the same kind of support  that I have.

ALSO – Canadians and non-Canadians alike should all read this brilliant post which offers a quick Canadian geography lesson.