Workin at the car wash!

Today... I spent 15 minutes in line waiting for a car wash.... while there I was talking out loud to myself in French.... trying to invision my interview on Friday while at the same time speaking loudly and enunciating every word (this is something my teacher has recommended doing in order to improve my confidence).

I thought I was being cool, and I thought that the other 10 cars in line were doing their own thing, but after about 10 minutes of being 'in the zone'.... I realized that both the driver in front of me and behind me were completely focused on me with that 'what the hell is she doing?' look on their faces.

It was at this point, that I closed my mouth immediately and gave each of them my smile of embarrassment without making a second glance in the mirror. HOWEVER... what I really wanted to do what get out of the car, march over to their windows and yell:

'Look it here people, I am WORKING, I know it may not look like it to you but this is what my jobs requires these days. I have a test to pass on Friday, so I would appreciate it if you could MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS so I can continue enunciating every word in Canada's second official language'

Hopefully they couldn't read my mind.... or else they would have really thought I was a crazy woman.

Two days to go.... and then its back to the real world!

You can probably sense that I am a weeeeeeee bit stressed out about the whole thing (thus the reason for bad grammar & spelling errors!) but in a weird way I am feeling good about my second language speaking abilities (whether I can sing to the tune of an evaluation interview or not). I am mostly looking forward to getting my life back and regaining my competency as a communications advisor.... its been quite some time since I actually did the job they are paying me for.

However.... I digress!
I must go and close my blinds so I can lock myself in a room and begin my enunciation exercises again!!!

As you can tell, its going to be fun times dans la petite ville d'Embrun ce soir!

The post with no name!

No sure what is going on with blogger these days, it doesn't want to cooperate for posting, so you will have to bear with me.

I am gearing up for the big French oral interview this Friday, so I don't have time to fight with it.

I will once again have to ask for your patience as I prepare to nail this French interview to the wall.

The bad news is a cold is brewing... PC is pretty much down and out with it, and I have the dry, sore, throat right now. While we will attempt to sleep in seperate beds to avoid harming one another, the damage may already have been done.

While the lack of posting may annoy you, I invite you to visit some links on the right hand side, under the heading BLOGS I READ. You will find some really amusing blogger friends of mine that may fill the void while I am off stressing out over this interview... but don't forget about me!!!

Hopefully I will get a short update in later in the week!
Until then, pray for me!

30 years!

Today... my Dad turns 30 years older than me! Every year we keep the same number of years between us... I personally think my Mother planned the event of my birth in 1980 in order to make the math easier for my father! I'm 27 born in 1980... so you know what that means, Timbo is... WOW: keep that number to yourself people!

I just wanted to send out some Birthday Wishes to my favourite father... he's a great guy, and an even better father, and I wouldn't change him for the world!

Since he was here on the weekend, we celebrated his b-day a little early... complete with Montreal Canadien's gifts!!!

See below!

Have a great day Dad... I love you!

The heat is on!

The lack of posting this week is definitely due to the French situation. I have been 'trying' to dedicate most of my evenings to preparing for my oral interview, so this is the only reason for my infrequent posting behaviour this week.

You will have bare with me until next Friday on this issue. But good news... in lieu of a decent rant I am posting a few pics from my weekend in Montreal with the fam-damily!

Back in September, 'Timbo', a.k.a my father, retired, and as a gift we got him tickets to see his favourite team, Les Canadiens de Montréal! Although the Habs lost the game 5-3, Timbo had a great time, as did the rest of us. I personally got to do some shopping for work clothes... something I haven't done in about 15 months... so that was the highlight for me.

Anyways... we did A LOT of shopping on St. Catherine's street... and saw some of the sights of the big FRENCH city.

Here are a few pics! Enjoy!

My Celebrity Look-a-Likes!

The only good thing about looking 96% like Katie Holmes-Cruise is that she had a cute cute baby.... so if I get that feature... I will be happy!

V-Day and reffing don't mix!

Hey folks... its 11:02 and I am exhausted so this will be short and sweet.

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy V-Day (the one hour that is left of it).

We had the storm of the year today! It took me a very long time to get TO and FROM school today. On top of the bad weather, PC had to ref tonight.

I am sure if they took a poll, referees would be largest group of SINGLE men on the planet or at least the largest group of men who have disgruntle wives & girlfriends. Honestly who is making the hockey schedule these days? Its not just at the local level either, the Sens are in action tonight too, so there are also the wives and significant others of professional players who have to be upset as well!

As PC says every year to me when he finds out he has a game on V-Day: 'Valentine's Day doesn't have to ONLY be the day Hallmarks makes it' - if that line isn't in the referees handbook under the sub-section A: HOW TO HANDLE YOUR BITCHY WIFE - then I don't what is!!!

However, I don't have much to complain about... PC came through with a great surprise this morning... some M.A.C. make up all wrapped up nicely for me waiting right by the alarm clock. He never misses an opportunity to buy the perfect gift... so at this point in the year he's still winning the race for No. 1 Husband!

Now, if he makes it home safe and sound due to the road conditions , I will be able to get some sleep, and call it a Happy V-Day.

Since its almost over, hope yours was enjoyable, whatever you did or didn't do!
Until tomorrow!

My Grammy Moment

I meant to post this on Monday, but got side-tracked with the Toronto Star article on Michelle.

However.... I love love loved the My Grammy Moment with Justin Timberlake & Robyn Troup.

If you missed it... at the beginning of the Grammy's they annouced that 1 of 3 girls (who had been narrowed down in a selection process before hand) would have a chance to be voted as the winner of My Grammy Moment. The winner (Robyn Troup) got to sing on stage live with JT (Justin Timberlake)... it was hot!

She was awesome.... I don't know how she did all the moves without falling flat on her face....oh, that and the fact, that she can really sing!

If you missed it... check out the video from You Tube below.

A pinch of salt!

Who ordered the salt on the streets of the Ottawa, and why must it ruin every decent pair of pants I have?

Lately it seems like I am doing a load of laundry every. single. day.

Between PC & I, I have enough laundry for a decent sized load every night.... and I am attributing all this work to the salted streets of our nation's national capital region.

It seems these days I can't step foot outside without ruining the back of my pant legs. After a short three minute walk my pant legs are covered with this white residue just waiting to get themselves inside to a warm building so they can crust up and go hard for the rest of the day.

In the summer (oh how I long for you), I can go a week to two weeks without needing to do laundry... but in the winter, it seems there is more laundry, more frequently.

I think part of the problem may be that I have this phobia of not having my favourite jeans clean and accessible in my closet. If I wear them one day and they become salt stained, I immediately rush them downstairs to the washing machine... to ensure that if I wanted them the next day or night, they would be ready and waiting for me. This tends to create more of an urgency then some of you might be experiencing, but for me its become a real chore to keep my favourite items clean.

Furthermore, keeping a coat sparkling in these winter months is also somewhat of a problem. Every time I get in or out of my car, I am doomed. And on the days when my car has actually had a wash it seems that every other car I park beside is filthy... so there I am again cleaning another piece of clothing at the end of the day.

Mitts, also seem to be a problem for me... as I can't shield them from the filth (my dear mitt-maker Debbie isn't going to like this one). I love my mitts but try navigating your way down a busy street with a hot coffee every morning, while avoiding the salt puddles at all costs and minimizing the spillage factor on the mitts. This is something I have yet to master, so there again, more laundry, more frequently.

It was said that the ol' Ground Hog didn't see his shadow this year... so let's get a move on and bring on the summer heat... I want to get back to enjoying my evenings, without worrying about the damn laundry!

Something worth reading...

You may recall this post in which I mentioned the passing of Michelle Hobor, a young woman who lost her battle with cancer at the end of January... leaving behind her daughter Noelle (pictured here with Michelle), son Nate, and husband Terry.

Back in September, the Toronto Star featured a story on Michelle... that she wrote herself about her discovery of the cancer.... the last line of the article reads 'I may have cancer, but cancer doesn't have me.'

However, the cancer did infact have her... even after a courageous battle... it was just more powerful then anyone could ever imagine and as a result it took her life.

In this weekend's Sunday Star, journalist Adam Gutteridge documents his emails with Michelle during the final months of her battle... the article is called 'A mother's tale'.

The story brings tears to my eyes.... its worth reading if you have sometime. And if you really feel like crying... the tribute video (also available on the site) will move you to tears, its photos of her life to the song 'I run for life', sung by Melissa Ethridge (lyrics here).

A sad sad story, that words cannot express at this time.

The moment you've all been waiting for...

After a long weekend of hard work, we finally finished up the room last night about 10:30 pm. This morning I cleaned and dusted, and VOILA!

For your viewing pleasure... here are some photos!

THE FINAL REVEAL:

Another Bedroom Make-Over!

This weekend is painting weekend at the Coleman household. After months of deliberation over what colours to paint our first spare bedroom, I have finally chosen something I am really excited about, and we got underway last night with the bedroom make-over (actually it was I who got underway last night while PC reffed some hockey and then arrived home close to midnight to say, 'do you want to go to bed I'm tired'... but that's a whole other post)!!!

To give you the full trading spaces experience... I am posting a few before pictures of the room(rather dull if you ask me). We are half way through the painting phase (only the final coat left to do), so hopefully I will get the room back together tonight or tomorrow morning and have some photos of the final reveal up for your viewing pleasure!

Stay tuned!!!

SPARE BEDROOM BEFORE:

DAMN I look good!

While sitting in traffic in downtown Ottawa this morning, I was stuck beside a tall mirrored office building for about 5 minutes. During this 5 minutes there must have been 25 to 30 women who were walking (practically running) to work in the frigid temperatures.

Now... I really wouldn't have had much to comment on today, except that EVERY SINGLE WOMAN who walked quickly by the mirrored building hesitated in order to give themselves a glance (or two, or three) in the mirror.

Some women went to the extent to look at themselves the entire length of the building, almost bumping into other pedestrians (men) on the street while having that 'DAMN, I look good' expression on their face. I had to laugh... as these women were so obsessed with what they looked like that didn't seem to notice that they walked half a block not paying attention to anyone but themselves. Some of them were tilting their heads a different way when the saw their reflection, others adjusting their clothes, and accessories.... down right hilarious if you ask me.

At first, when analysing this fact, it seemed to me to be a character flaw that most women (and some men) have... but upon further reflection, I now tend to think its human nature, solely because of the fact that after getting out my car, I caught myself checking ME out in my own car door window.

Why on earth must we check ourselves out in every mirror or every object that shows our reflection?

I mean, I don't think I am a girl that stands in the mirror for hours on end every morning worrying about what I look like. Yes... I like to be presentable, but when preparing to go to French everyday of the week, its usually just a quick shower, blow-dry, throw on some clothes in order to get out the door at a decent time.

However... whether I am dressed up for the Emmy's or simply hung-over in some sweats, I am pretty sure I would notice my own reflection in a window, on the side of a car, or even threw another person's sunglasses.

I hate that society deems that we be self-absorbed in this respect. And I also hate that women take it one step further, and become some-what obsessed with their appearance. Even if its sweats and a tee... we all want to look a bit sexy/attractive, while still being functional... and this means always checking out our reflection to ensure that we still look our best, despite the circumstances!

I guess there is nothing wrong with wanting to assure ourselves that we have 'the look'... but it still bothers me that I can't walk by any reflective object without sneaking a glance at myself.

Maybe I am alone on this one, I don't know... but I seem to think other woman are worse then I am on this issue.... are you?

What the heck can be done to change this... if anything?

Back in the day

A former school mate (Kandice Ardiel), was kind enough to post two pages out of the 1984 Thessalon Public School yearbook on the famous Facebook network.

I died laughing the first time I saw these photos, and I am still laughing now!

Can you pick me out in the following photo?

That's me... first row, third photo in, right beside the teachers! And if I recall correctly, that was the school photo that my Mom made me promise to take my sweater off before I got my picture taken... and when I came home from school that day, she asked me if I had done so, and I replied 'YES MOM', but as the evidence shows I must have forgot, as the sweater is clearly still on me in the photo above (at the age of 4, you don't think the little lies you tell will come back to haunt you... thank god I have gotten better at covering my tracks in my old age)!

Ahhh.... the good ol' days!

Now you see it, now you don't!

Today is a good day. I say this, as I do every second Wednesday, as its the day that Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) releases the paychecks of federal employees into their bank accounts.

Every second Wednesday, like clock work, I wake up and check my online banking to ensure that the funds have indeed been placed into the account.

Not once has my government ever let me down (on this issue). However, its seems that the government can't work fast enough... as soon as they release the money into my bank account, there is a line up of starving, money hungry vulchers, just waiting to swoop down and take as much as they can, as fast as they can, before I can get my little paws on some free spending money.

It's a really a case of, if you blink, you'll miss it... and that's exactly what's happening as we speak.

No sooner has the government done their part and paid PC and I both our earnings... when the accounts payable people are line up out of the cyberspace door ready to collect what rightfully belongs to them.

I hate it. Its a vicious cycle... just when you think you are getting ahead at 7am every second Wednesday, you are flat broke by noon the same day.

Why... for one payday, can't these accounts payable vulchers take a vacation... give me some peace, let me look at my earnings for more than 15 minutes, and actually invision a life of wealth and fame... is this too much to ask?

Round 2

We interupt regular programming to bring you this short piece of health advice:

NEXT YEAR... GET THE FLU SHOT!

I am pretty sure earlier in the year, I was a little mouth piece about how I never get the flu shot, because I don't get sick.

I would officially like to retract that statement to let you know that next year, I will be the first one in line for the shot.

The awful stomach virus attacked me last night for round 2 of the bathroom adventures. This little bug has reeked havic on my immune system all day... I am not sure what caused it, but according to health officals in the area, its the same bug from 3 weeks ago, making its SECOND ROUND.

Great.... the only question is now, how many days will it keep me between my bathroom and my bed, whinning like a two year old?

I will keep you posted.

Pampered Chef... GENIUS idea!

Yesterday, I hosted a little Pampered Chef party for a few friends and I. It went pretty well... didn't absorb too much of anyone's time and it I got to see a lot of people that I haven't chatted with in a while, so from my point of view, things went well!

I have to say though, that whoever founded the whole Pampered Chef organization, really had a good idea on her hands (and you know it was a woman's idea if it was this good). Pampered Chef is all about getting a some women together in small bunches to discuss a common topic (kitchen gadgets), surrounded by a bit of food and drink, while at the same time learning a few things. These parties are social, somewhat engaging, and in the end everyone leaves with a few extra tips for the kitchen, and most of the time, some new products and recipes.

I mean... I know this innovation isn't rocket science... well okay... perhaps some of the products are border-line rocket-science... but the part that interests me the most is the implementation side to selling this stuff... the whole marketing of these products. Whoever put together the communications plan to get these products on the market should have definitely been paid a lot of money... because the plan is making Pampered Chef millions right now.

Its like an infomercial in your home... when you actually see the infomercial live you are more likely to think you actually need the products then the b.s. sales pitch that comes from the television 'and that's now all folks... if you call right now, you will receive... yida yida yida.

I find, when woman are with their friends, making a sales pitch is easier for the person selling. The saleswoman can say, this product is great for X,Y, and Z, but its the friends who reinforce what the salesperson is saying, driving home the final stage of marketing: THE SALE. Friends make marketing easy... and someone at Pampered Chef definitely knew this!

The great thing about Pampered Chef is that it just spirals... from the party I hosted, other people will probably decide to host their own party, and from those parties, more bookings will continue. Its something that circulates via word of mouth and continues to grow with every party.

Its GENIUS... down right GENIUS, and I love it!

What's in a name?

I got this link off a friend of mine (shout out to Roz)... I typed in my name and low and below it leads me to believe I am a half decent person... now all I have to do is work on making these attributes more believable!

Here's what it said about Sara Louise:

You are idealistic and have a keen intellect and imagination. Philosophical with a gentle, romantic and giving nature, your desire is to help others and benefit mankind. You attract many friends and are loved by all for your nurturing and understanding ways. Once a project has been started your determination and focus always ensures that it is completed. You exude peace and contentment and bring this into your environment and associations.

Peace and contentment? Right... looks like I have work to do, although the whole line about determination and focus indicates that there is a chance in hell I will get through my French training... so that's definitely a positive.

What does your name say about you?

CLEAN OFF YOUR DAMN CAR!

A little bit of stormy weather this morning had me cursing a few drivers on the 417... as they were too lazy to clean off their cars before getting on the road today, which made for slow lane changes, unnecessary stopping, and frankly poor driving judgement.

I don't understand why citizens of the National Capital Region (although I presume its a problem everywhere), can't take an extra 3 minutes to properly clean the snow off their car before leaving their driveway. I mean seriously... I don't think its too much to ask of someone... is it?

We are all aware of the slow downs snow can cause, but people seem to take the approach of: 'why clean off my car when its just going to easily blow-off when I hit 100km on the highway'.

Right... you are, the half ice-half snow on the top of your car will eventually blow-off... RIGHT ONTO MY DAMN WINDSHIELD.

This moring while coming into Ottawa, a little Mazada 3 came tearing onto the 417 from the Innes exit... the car completely was covered in snow... only the area where the windshield wipers could reach had clear visibility. Mr. Mazada slammed on his breaks when he realized traffic was slow moving, proceeded to come to a complete stop, making everyone else behind him hit their breaks, as he rolled down his window to see where and when he could merged his way into on stop n' go traffic. Gotta love a guy, who thinks the world doesn't mind halting just for him.

It seems to be an ongoing trend in this city to just hop in your car and go, without worrying about the consequences... and I'm am not sure why we have become so self-absorbed to fact that other people won't mind if I almost kill them because I didn't have time to clean off my car.

Grrrr... wake up people... clean off your damn car, and start making the world a safer place to drive... for everyone!