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Thursday morning, 1AM

February 13, 2009 By 16 Comments

Thursday morning, 1AM. I had a seizure.

The days after having a seizure are always rather depressing. I hide it well, but my brain is in turmoil.  I’m confused and frustrated and pissed off.  Eight years ago I was told that my seizures would likely stop on their own in my early 20s.  I was starting to think that I would be confident getting my drivers license back.  Be confident travelling on my own. Maybe someday not be dependent on my medication. Not be nervous about the difficulties Denis and I might experience when we try to start a family.

Half of my tongue is swollen and I sound like a moron when I talk.  Yesterday my head hurt too much to do, well, anything.  Seizures suck.  I’m lucky to have someone who takes care of me and knows what to do when it happens.

Den commented once that he would be interested in experiencing a seizure so he could understand what it feels like for me. As much as I appreciate what he meant, I wouldn’t wish seizures on anyone.  There’s not much to feel except really shitty afterwards.

Filed Under: personal Tagged With:

January, I hate you.

January 27, 2009 By 16 Comments

I hate January.  I really do.  I promised myself today that I will never have a child born in January, I will just put a plug in it and tell that child to wait.  Momma hasn’t gotten out of bed in 30 days.  January is the longest month of the year for some reason, and this year it dragged and dragged.  I don’t even know if I am going to last another week.  January is the month keeping me from having visitors from home.  January is the month I got credit card fraud, and my bank decided I didn’t need to know until my card was declined and I had to call them – “Oh, it looks here like we cut your card off because of fraud.”  What the eff, is it not important that I know this?  January is the month my debit card failed the same week my credit card did, and my boyfriend left for Panorama, BC that day leaving me with no access to my funds at all.  January is the month I sucked at my job.  January is the month Tim didn’t work any day shifts leaving us an hour during lunch to see each other.  January is the month that I tried to make new friends that didn’t want to be made back.  January is the month I fell really hard and hurt my elbows (okay, that one was just whining).
For the duration of the month of January, you may find me going about my duties with a hoodie on, hood up, with the strings pulled real tight so no one can look in.
I’m sorry for this negative, whiny post but I needed to let it out.  The pit in my stomach is growing by the second.  My plan is to go to bed in my favourite pyjamas, with a glass of wine and a good book, in my super comfy bed and wake up tomorrow and take a big breath and tell the world that it’s showtime.

What are you whining about lately? Let it out.

Filed Under: life, money, personal, winter

Thoughts on a Monday Night

October 27, 2008 By 9 Comments

My Monday wasn’t too bad:

- I found out that a second kitten is moving into my student house, it belongs to one of my roommates and that means one more kitten that I don’t have to feed, clean up after, or get shots for, or do anything for but play with and cuddle with. I love coming home after classes to a kitten standing at the door just waiting for some love. And how can you not love this:

- I got to Science class and my prof asked me to come speak with him… I was expecting the worst, of course, but what he said was “Your lesson plan was really good, I photocopied one for everyone in the class, would you mind if I hand one out to everyone?” Ummm nope! Definitely a good self esteem boost, school wise!

- We got that much closer to setting a wedding date… we want to do it at a church that is not our home church so it’s that much more complicated. Soon, though!

- I made a sweeeeet dinner for my roommate Jen and I for when she came home from class starving at 6:00.

- I got a job tutoring a gr. 10 boy in English!

- Had a good phone chat with Kent… well until he told me that he can’t come visit this weekend! Since I started school we’ve managed to still see each other every weekend and of course the whole three weeks that I was off when my school went on strike. It’s his sister’s birthday though so I can’t fault him for that. I guess I would like to have a fiance who thinks his sister’s birthday is an important event. Plus he did take not only my birthday off but the WEEK OF my birthday since he needed to use up some vacation time. We can’t go away since I’m in school but he is going to come vacation at my student house in Windsor… doesn’t get much more luxurious than that! So to everyone who is my friend in real life – November 8! We’re going out in London and it’s a Saturday… birthday’s on Saturdays are extremely important events. The last time my birthday was on a Saturday I was 20 and I got pushed home in a shopping cart.

- My Oma had her hip replacement surgery and she is doing well!

- And always the best part of Mondays: remembering all the fun you had on the weekend! I went with Katelyn, her husband Scott, and a bunch of friends to a Halloween dance in a town near ours – one weekend early but that just means drawing out the fun even longer. This Friday my roommates and I are having a Halloween party of our own.

Here are some pictures of the fun last weekend:

I was a horseback rider and that’s my horse, Sheila. It was impossible for anyone to come near me without kissing it, kicking it, riding on it, feeding drinks to it, or… performing various inappropriate activities with/to it. That’s my friend Rebecca kissing it here.

Jen as a corpse bride, me, Michelle as Little Red Riding Hood, and Rebecca as a black angel.

Katelyn and Scott as Minnie and Mickey Mouse.

Some great friends of ours looking a little shocked… costumes are pretty self explanatory!

Everyone wanted to ride poor Sheila…

Jen’s boyfriend Andrew won Best Male Costume with his “fat plumber” suit!

And two of your five favourite blondes, riding the horse together. I just noticed the guy’s shirt behind us, please ignore it. :)

Filed Under: friends, Holidays, micaela, personal, thoughts, university, Wedding

Can you define your life in six words?

October 15, 2008 By 19 Comments
Postsecret Book

I don’t know about some of the other fiveblondes, but my favourite website is Postsecret.com, and two of my favourite books are the two Postsecret books I own. Every weekend I (unlike most people) get excited for Sunday to roll around so that I can jump over to Postsecret.com and look at all the new secrets!

Even though I will always love Postsecret, I’ve found a couple of new sites/books kind of like it! One is Six Word Memoirs. This is a site where people post about their lives in SIX WORDS! It could be a part of their life, or something they’ve experienced, but I still find it fascinating! While I was looking at the Postsecret book on Amazon, it recommended me a book (don’t you love it when they recommend you books?). This book was called “Other People’s Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant To See”. This is by far the cutest book EVER! It has original pictures of love letters from random people that were found in random places around the world. Some of them are even on things like cocktail napkins, and some of them are heartbreak, like the word “liar” written 183 times.
Hope you enjoyed these books/sites, because I LOVE them!
Anyone else have any books like these that they love? Share!

By the way, I should probably STOP making blog posts in order to keep away from studying. I have a feeling it won’t be very helpful to my successful university career…

Filed Under: lauren, life, love, personal, photography, relationships, university, webpages Tagged With: ,

My Lonely, Lonely Weekend.

August 16, 2008 By 8 Comments

I love my job, they want me to come in Monday to Friday, 8:00am – 4:00pm and then go home and not think about work once. It’s great, really. Tim, on the other hand, sometimes has to work weekends at his beloved hotel. Not fun! Take this weekend, he just left for work at 8:30am and has to work tomorrow at the same time. So alas, my weekend will be spent all alone as my friends all have things going on. Wait did I just say friends? Maybe what I meant was FRIEND. Not that I am complaining, I am loving my life out here in the West. Today the plan is to get my hair done, then buy a small tube and plop my butt in it with a good book (read: The Time Traveller’s Wife – this is my fourth time reading it in Calgary alone) and travel down my favourite river.

When I told Tim this plan, I said he should call in sick to work.

“Tim, you should call in sick tomorrow and come tubing with me! Tell them you have … tuberculosis. No – tell them you have TUBE-erculosis. “

Oh, how I crack myself up.  His parents (could I say my in-laws?) have been visiting all week. We went to a real small-town rodeo on Sunday, it was great. Pictures to come soon, after I get my hair cut. To me, getting my hair cut is actually WORSE than going to the dentist; I detest it. Even now as I am about to leave I am feeling a bit anxious and dreading it slightly. But I have my book, and my cell phone so that means I am ready to go and face the scissors.

Hopefully something so fun and amazing will happen this lonely weekend that will make it the best weekend yet!

Filed Under: leah, life, personal, summer

Redeeming myself after a month long vacation from blogging

July 11, 2008 By 10 Comments

You may have noticed that I have not written in here for a LONG time! Well I have good reasons… well sort of. I have had a crazily busy spring and start-of-summer. I have been away about 7 out of the last 10 weekends, I’d say. But don’t feel sorry for me, all of those weekends, aside from Brownie camp and a training weekend for a camp in Toronto, have been strictly for fun purposes – for example, a concert in Toronto (Leonard Cohen – AMAZING SHOW), a musical in Toronto (Dirty Dancing – also an amazing weekend!), visiting Kent’s family in Toronto, a weekend at my friend Rebecca’s cottage at Turkey Point, and I spent this past week at my best friend Michelle’s cottage in Muskoka. An excellent week of lots of boating, sunbathing, ATV-ing, waterskiing, tubing, campfire-ing, eating, and reading. I had a wonderful time hanging out with my two longest best friends and our boyfriends. And I will admit it – I was not one of the ones doing the waterskiing. Tubing I am okay with, but waterskiing just seems over the top scary to me, weirdly enough, considering I grew up snow-skiing and snowboarding just about every day in the winter. I have tried surfing while I was in South Africa, and I am not afraid of things like roller coasters or high diving boards. This week I decided it was probably because, while I swam in lakes and oceans tons as a child, I didn’t spend any time on boats (besides canoes) and I think I only have one memory of tubing as a kid and it does not end very well! We definitely were not deprived children, don’t get me wrong, but my parents preferred vacations (trips out west to visit family, camping trips everywhere, road trips through the States and Canada, trips to Disney World, Europe, ski vacations in Vermont…) to cottaging. I think I’ll be the same way when I’m a parent. Cottaging is relaxing and all, but I definitely prefer the excitement and culture that you get while travelling.

Anyways back to my point, today I visited Katelyn at work and I asked her if she had ever been waterskiing, and she answered “NO! I’m scared of it!” So I’ve decided that this is one thing we can blame on our childhood! Unless any of my sisters would like to prove me wrong… but I am okay with the idea that I will never be a waterskiier. Kent is naturally good at every sport he tries, he even tried waterskiing with one ski this week, and he will randomly pop out with facts like “Did you know I won the grade 11 athletic award in high school?” and “Did you know that I won an Ontario doubles tennis tournament when I was a kid?” So he has no fears about sports and is convinced that I HAVE to try waterskiing by the end of the summer, and I would be great at it, and why don’t I just try? I’m not so sure… my answer is MAYBE.

Now I am back home for the next few weekends, until Kent and I head to Toronto (again! We should really just move there…) for his friends’ wedding. Which is fine with me.. I am a social butterfly but I am also a homebody. Hence the fact that it is Friday night and all of my friends are out having fun and I am sitting at home waiting for my boyfriend to get home from work and listening to an outdoor concert that is going on in my town. Although I’m not sure anyone actually has to go to the concert because it is such a small town that everyone must be able to hear it from their decks! I love being home as long as I know that I have other options, then it seems more like a choice than simply my own loser-ness showing though. Tomorrow night I am heading to an outdoor Rascall Flatts concert with two friends from work and a few others.

I admit that I have not been taking any pictures this summer that I can post, well actually that isn’t true, I have been but they are all on my best friend Michelle’s camera. She lost her camera cord and so they haven’t made their way onto facebook yet, so here is a picture of me at her cottage from last summer!

Hope everyone else has been having an excellent summer too!!

Filed Under: friends, life, micaela, personal, summer, thoughts

An "I Love You" I Will Always Remember

June 26, 2008 By 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?”

Filed Under: Calgary, cars, love, personal, relationships Tagged With: , , , , ,

Thoughts

May 28, 2008 By 9 Comments

Lately I really feel like life is just passing by as I wait for it to get better. I’m not going to get into specifics about my job, but basically I’m not challenged and always feel unneeded in the office, where I work alone. I never in a million years would say that I’m a people person but I AM a person who relies on always having people around for company. I guess you could say that stemmed from growing up with 4 sisters and never being alone. During my day I come in contact with exactly 0 people. Unless I’m lucky and maybe 1 person comes in.. And so the job search continues and I am going stir crazy here.

I took a long lunch break outside today, sitting on the grass in the sunshine reading a book. I love sitting on grass, it’s so cushy and always smells so nice and fresh. I’m currently reading P.S. I Love You, it’s a good book, but so sad, and I’m such a sucker that I aways cry when reading sad books!Toes and River

Last night I got my 2nd ever pedicure! I had to warn the woman doing my pedicure that I am kind of ticklish, I’m slowly growing out of it, but some ticklishness still remains. Laura and I went at the same time, we sat in relaxing massaging chairs, got lower leg and feel massages, exfoliated, buffed and polished. I chose a cheery pink colour, which coincidentally matched the shirt I was wearing at the time, I didn’t notice until we had left! Here are some pictures of my pretty toes that I took at lunch. Sorry to those of you hate toes! I have reallllly long toes and big feet (I’m the shortest in the family but I have the biggest feet, how unfair!). The picture below doesn’t really show off the colour very well, apparently I’m bad at taking pictures of my feet.

After getting the pedicure Laura and I walked around the mall, while walking through The Bay (that’s the Hudson’s Bay Company for all you American folk) and I spritzed myself with a random perfume. Well let me tell you I think I am in love! It’s Coco Mademoiselle, and smells so yummy! I am wearing the same jacket I was last night while at the mall and I can’t stop smelling this one part of my jacket because it smells so good!

And my last thought: We finally will get to play baseball tonight! For once, it’s not raining on a Wednesday! On Wednesdays in our town there is ladies league softball! Mic and Lau and I all play on the same team, we are on the youngest team. We aren’t that great but we still have fun! For the past 3 Wednesday’s in a row it has rained and we have not gotten to play, I think today it is safe to say that we will be playing! I don’t see a cloud in the sky.

Filed Under: katelyn, personal, thoughts Tagged With: , , , ,

You're Gonna Miss This

March 7, 2008 By 4 Comments

My recent favorite song is by Trace Adkins, called “You’re Gonna Miss This.” I didn’t really pay attention to the words the first few times I heard the song and then one day I really listened, and the song really hit me. It’s about life and how you wish for the future and then you will look back and miss what you were doing. I think everyone in life can relate to this at one time or another!

Here are the lyrics:

She was starin’ out the window of that SUV
Complainin’ sayin’ I can’t wait to turn 18
She said I’ll make my own money and I’ll make my own roots
Mama put the car in park out there in front of the school
and she kissed her head and said I was just like you

You’re gonna miss this
You’re gonna want this back
You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna miss this

Before she knows it she’s a brand new bride
In her one bedroom apartment and her daddy stops by
He tells her it’s a nice place, she says it’ll do for now
Starts talkin’ about babies and buyin’ a house
Daddy shakes his face and says Baby just slow down

Cuz you’re gonna miss this
You’re gonna want this back
You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
These are some good times so take a good look around
You may not know it now but you’re gonna miss this

Five years later there’s a plummer workin’ on the water heater,
Dogs barkin’ phones ringin’ one kid’s cryin’ one kid’s screamin’,
And she keeps apologizing, he says they don’t bother me I got 2 babies of my own one’s 36 one’s 23 it’s hard to believe

But you’re gonna miss this
You’re gonna want this back
You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
These are some good times so take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna miss this
You’re gonna miss this

Yeah, you’re gonna miss this

And here is a video of the song that someone made on YouTube. Anyone who watches One Tree Hill will especially LOVE this video because it’s about Hailey’s life! Give the song a listen!

EDIT- I had to take it out because it messed with our format.. somehow.. Please listen by going HERE, and then comment on what you think of the song. Because I need to know!

Filed Under: music, personal Tagged With: , ,

Five Busy Blondes

November 22, 2007 By 2 Comments

Wow, not much going on as of late! Finals are coming up for those of us in school…naturally an important time of year. Micaela celebrated her birthday earlier this month with a new Lululemon sweater which I have yet to see, but am already very jealous of! Paisley – I love paisley! Kate and Scott are obviously back from their honeymoon, but seem to be having the same kind of difficulties that D and I are having getting telephone and internet service worked out at their new house. Who knew the real world would be this difficult? Leah’s birthday is coming up – always a party – and I hear that Lauren is getting snowed on in Ottawa and is planning to head to Tremblant soon?!? Luck-yyy!! By the way, Lo, I see that Allison Forsyth is sitting out the ski season – there’s a spot on the national team open for ya!

D and I went to Pier 1 Imports last weekend – I was there to browse, D was there to buy a coffee table (even though we have 2 already – long story) despite my insistence that we did not need a new one.  I was holding out just fine…until he pointed out a red and brown wood chest with inlaid flowers on the side…possibly the coffee table/storage unit of my dreams.  Browsing turned into buying and we now have 3 coffee tables (though one is destined for the woodpile at the farm).

Now all we need at the new apartment is a rug for in front of the gas fireplace! I love this design for a rug – in fact I would buy that one except it is a coconut fibre doormat. I guess I will continue my search!

I”m always looking for a creative output, and I love computers, so I’ve decided that my next ‘project’ (as in, the project I will take up when I no longer have to spend evenings at school!) will be a blogging project. Or, rather, a continuation of THIS blogging project. I want to use the WordPress CMS and design our own, unique theme for the site! This goes along with a side project that I can’t mention right now. ;) I am excited to get started on it and have found some great resources already, such as those on Lorelle’s blog. I know that there are many super cool free WordPress themes available on the net, but designing one myself will give me so much more satisfaction in the end, and also skills to build on.

Speaking of designing and skillz, we’ve not shared this photograph on the blog and I think we should because it is absolutely beautiful. These are our Oma’s hands as she works on Kate’s wedding dress – she hand-stitched thousands of beads, crystals, and sequins onto the dress over the summer! I like that the photo highlights her own wedding ring. She and Opa will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in January – and we’re having a big party to celebrate next summer!

Oma’s Hands

Filed Under: environment, erica, Family, furniture, internet, life, personal, photography, thoughts, university, writing
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