Tid-Bits Thursday

So here I am, Tid-Bits Thursday #2 (I will be really surprised if I can keep this going... but ya never know).

Let's see... I think I should probably start off with the desk update.

1. I have ordered a desk and a new bookshelf, and it should be arriving tomorrow at some point. Thanks to everyone for their lovely suggestions, I did check out all of the sites, and made some in person visits to see a few of them. I contemplated a few new ideas, but ultimately I fell in love with a new desk that was added to the office furniture line at Staples not that long ago. It's a dark espresso colour and I absolutely love it... it has ample storage for all my our stuff, and the measurements, and price were exactly in line with what I was thinking. I will have to post some pictures when we PC assembles it!

2. Still off the coffee.... but ramping up my tea intake rather rapidly these days.

3. Lululemon is having some crazy warehouse sale here in Ottawa that started this morning. I am hoping to get the tonight or tomorrow to check it out. I have no idea what to expect, but I would imagine that this AM there would have been some caddy woman lined up at the entrance ready to tear out some hair in order to get some super cheap merchandise. I was blessed with receiving some Lululemon Gift Certificates for Christmas and my Birthday... so I feel like I don't need to buy too much at the warehouse, but if the price is right, I could be convinced to get a few more items - afterall, you can never have too many comfy clothes.

4. I worked from home yesterday, and boy do I ever love my job on the days when I can stay home and review a news release and a speech in front of Regis & Kelly. Really... I think it made the week for me in terms of work. It was productive, yet enjoyable - and I don't get too many days like that, not to mention, I got eat lunch at home, and start dinner on my break... just made for a great day/evening all together.

5. 27 Dresses... must see movie for chicks. My girlfriends took me out to celebrate my belated birthday and we went to see this flick... what a great movie. I love love loved it - laughed my ass off during the 'Benny and the Jets' scene! I don't think I am a big fan of Katherine Heigl, but in this movie I really enjoy her character! Yes, the movie was predictable, yes, it may have been sappy at times, but this is what woman really enjoy. SUCH A GREAT MOVIE - a definite buyer for me!

6. Ray Emery. I love this guy... people in Ottawa love to hate him, but I like him. Yes he's cocky, but deep down he's just a young guy trying to make it the NHL. The media here in Ottawa are having a field day on his tardy behaviour over the last few months... I happen to think, what's 5 minutes in the grand scheme of things - relax people.

7. Weekend plans include... setting up the desk, and trying out PC's new La-z-boy Recliner (which also arrives tomorrow). Saturday we will be attending a wedding reception in downtown E-ville, and then Sunday is the Superbowl - which means sweet f-all to me, but PC has plans to attend a party, so I will be enjoying the La-Z--boy and catching up on some Oprah on the PVR.

Desk Hunting

I am on the hunt for a new computer desk/workstation.... and I can't seem to find ANYTHING that suits us me. I have been looking for something since November, and no where in my travels have I found anything that I just LOVE.

However, I did see a desk at IKEA, and although I really didn't love it, it would work for the space I have for an office desk, and at this point I was sick of looking for anything more, so I decided to just get it, and live with it.

On Saturday, PC was available for the day, so I decided we would go to IKEA and pick up the desk I had been pondering about for over a month. In my mind, we would go into Ottawa, go to IKEA, get the desk, and then do whatever else we wanted to do afterwards. However, the day did not go like that at ALL.

First of all, when you take PC out for a day of shopping, you definitely follow his agenda first... and you make it your agenda or else you risk him not leaving the house with you.

First stop... St. Laurent Mall. This was on both our agendas because we were hungry, but more so on PC's because he wanted to get a button replaced on his leather jacket at the mall. So we accomplished those two items... then I made my way to the Body Shop to use up my free birthday gift (best rewards card ever at the BS - but that's another post entirely). After that, PC lured me into Koyman Galleries as they are closing their St. Laurent store, and 30 minutes later we purchased not 1 but 2 Group of Seven numbered prints for our living room.

Then... while I wandered into a shoe store, PC went to his own shoe store. I used my birthday money to purchase some new EMU boots and was pleasantly surprised with my find (I didn't think I would find the ones I liked). I managed to team up with PC again at his shoe store and we left the mall around 4:30.

The majority of the day was gone, and we hadn't even done the second item on his agenda - Lazy Boy Furniture.

PC's dream has been to get a La-z-boy recliner for the basement. I use to use the idea of purchasing one as ploy to get him to finish the basement quicker, but when it was finally done neither of us really mentioned it. However, he had not forgotten about the chair, and with La-z-boy's current sale on, we spent an hour or more sitting in chair after chair after chair, before finally deciding on one. Yes, we bought a brown leather La-z-boy - PC's dream chair... well let me rephrase, PC's amended dream chair. The Cadillac of all Cadillac chairs was a little too big for my liking... and so I had to talk him down to the more modern Cadillac version, which took some convincing on my part, but luckily I prevailed, and we ended up with a far nicer chair (in my eyes), and bigger savings in the end.

So... at this point it is 6:00 pm, and we are just leaving the east end to head to the west end, as we have dinner plans with friends, which means no time for IKEA, AND we spent way more money than expected on a day that reserved for purchasing one item - a desk.

Fortunately, our friends also wanted to go to IKEA, so after arriving at their house, having some snacks, we decided to tackle IKEA together. The only problem is, when we arrived at the desk section, the desk I had picked out (after numerous visits to IKEA on my own) PC wasn't thrilled about it. This made me not excited to get it, and then we started looking at all of the other desks in the store... ending up back at square one, with nothing. After another hour of looking, we walked out the store with $93 worth of stuff that wasn't on our list, and NO DESK.

What a frustrating experience. I don't know where to shop for desks in this city? I have been on every office supply web site from here to France, and still nothing that is half decent, and in a decent price range (I did find a really nice one for only $1449!). I am not sure if I will ever find a good desk... and one that both PC and I can agree on. Tonight I don't curl until 9pm, so after work I have 3 solid hours to put looking for desks.

Do you have any suggestions on where I might find a decent dark wood desk, with storage, a key board tray, and lots of working space? Please do share any suggestions you might have... I could really use them today... or all week for that matter (until I find a damn desk!).

Tid-Bits Thursday

Frankly, my brain is still on vacation mode - and although I would like to come up with a super witty post about something important, I just don't have the brain power to do that .... so in lieu of my sound writing ability, I present to you: TID-BITS THURSDAY!

1. I think I may be off coffee ... I know it sounds ludicrous, but while we were on our vacation, I didn't touch coffee. I tried one cup the first day and found the milk to taste a bit weird, so didn't have another cup since. When I got home, I just have been too lazy to brew coffee in the morning, and have even started drinking tea at work if I am in need of something. However, I am still on Chai Tea Lattes... and in time I know my cravings for Vanilla Lattes will surface soon, but for now - I truly think I could be off coffee, if I want to be (which is probably still up for discussion).

2. No matter how much sleep I got on vacation, I am still tired... I think I was just starting to enjoy the extra sleep on my vacation, and now my body expects it. I am trying to go to bed earlier at night, but this is at the risk of leaving dirty dishes on the counter, not having lunches made for the next day, and not getting any laundry or other daunting chores done through the week. Why does one aspect of my life have to suffer, if I am trying to improve another part of it?

3. There was a tragic accident in Ottawa that happened early Wednesday morning, involving an OC Transpo bus, and an SUV filled with 5 Carleton University students, 3 of which were killed. The bus slammed into the SUV at 2am killing the male driver, and two female passengers. The other two students were injured and taken to hospital. It is not known who was at fault, although it is suspected that alcohol was a factor. No words can really express the tragedy that has occurred, but I do hope that the family and friends of those who were killed some how find a way to cope with such an unexpected and tragic loss.

4. I am peeling... everywhere. My skin apparently isn't liking this Canadian weather, as I have started to peel in various places on my body - places I didn't even know saw the sun while I was on vacation. It's quite disgusting actually, dead skin cells fill my bed each morning, I have to sweep them off in the garbage, it's very gross - no matter how much aloe vera, or body butter I slap on my skin, it continues to have a mind of it's own! I wish I could shed a few pounds, as fast as I am shedding all of this dead skin!

5. I have way too many books on the go right now, and I am not making any headway with any of them. I get about 3 chapters into a book, and then put it aside, start another one. Now I have 5 decent books started, and I am no where near finishing any of them. Do this ever happen to any of you?

6. It's Thursday, which means tomorrow's Friday. I don't have big plans for the weekend, except fully unpacking my suitcase and doing laundry - other than that, perhaps I can make some headway on 1 of the 5 books I have on the go. What about you, any big plans for the weekend?

That wraps the first edition of Tid-Bits Thursday... perhaps I will make this a weekly thing!

A few photos from Punta Cana!

PC won a beer drinking contest the first day we were there... from then was reffered to as 'the champion' en français!

Snap back to reality!

Nothing like coming off of a nice hot vacation to minus 28 degree weather Monday morning - acting as 'fresh' reminder that we do indeed live in Canada! It's a enough to make you want to play chicken with a transport on the highway, if you know what I mean.

Then to top things off, I arrive at work to a parade of folks heading off to our bi-weekly staff meeting as my first order of business - I didn't even have time to put my lunch in the fridge! After an hour piddly information sharing I head back to my office to find my inbox filled with only 426 emails to sift through - I LOVE MY JOB!

The rest of the day was spent trying to get organized, opening emails, deleting, filing, and re-reading old emails that were still hanging around my desk from before my vacation.

However, I guess I can't really complain. We had an amazing week in the sun - no complaints about the actual time we spent in the Dominican, it was more about the travel to and from the Dominican that was painful. Delays, delays, and more delays .... going to Punta Cana, we were delayed 2 hours, and coming home it was 4 hours. Honestly... not the way you want to end a trip, but nonetheless, I am still classifying the vacation as fantastic.

It was nice to just be in the sun, with no responsibilities, no time lines, and no schedule - except of course, get up, eat, hit the beach, hit the swim up bar, lounge, swim, eat - be merry!!! This is what we did for 6 whole days.. and I loved every. minute.

Okay, you are probably to the point where you are sick of hearing how great the trip was... so I will quit rubbing it in... and I am sure you are wanting to see some pictures by now. I am hoping to do this tonight... download them from the camera, and upload them to the blog, so check back tomorrow and instead of me just bragging about how nice the trip was, you can actually see for yourself!

Stay tuned.

Update from Sunny Punta Cana!

Just a short update to say Ola, from downtown Punta Cana!

The weather has been fantastic... hot days, with lots of sun... no reasons to complain!

Monday, I celebrated my 28th birthday Dominican style.... it was lots of fun, I think everyone in the hotel knew it was my birthday... everyone sang Happy Birthday to me four times over, in every language imaginable!

Yesterday, we attended the wedding of Vicki and Toubi, and it was a beautiful ocean wedding, followed by a great dinner and an evening of dancing. We had a great time!

Lots of pictures to come when we arrive home Saturday night (Dad C: our flight is due into Ottawa at 3:30, so hope to see you around 4!).

Hope all is well with each of you... next week will be back to regular blogging!

Talk to you soon!

Sara & PC!

Sunny Days Ahead

You see the picture below...? This is where I will be spending the next week of my life - on the beach - in the sun - thinking of nothing - doing nothing - except soaking up the sun!

Yes... in the year of getting what I want - PC and I are starting out with a hot vacation in sunny Dominican Republic, Punta Cana!

I am hoping to get a post or two in while we are away... so check back in a few days! Until then... don't hate me too much!

Retreat was a treat!

This week is flying by... I have been bombarded with meetings, meetings, and more meetings. Sometimes you have to wonder how any work can get done when you spend the majority of your day in meetings.

Yesterday, my colleagues and I were shuttled off site to an all day retreat. Now... when I think of the word retreat - I think of hot stone massages, facials, pedicures - but in the case of the workplace - a retreat is more so of a day away from the office, and as uninterrupted as possible from the day to day distractions.

I have had the pleasure of attending a few 'retreat' days in my government career. This was my first at my current job. I have to say, having a small group of employees really makes a big difference when doing a so-called 'retreat'. My directorate is made up of only 62 people so knowing everyone is actually very easy and in the case of group discussions - a small group of people works rather well compared to a massive group.

The morning part of the day was filled with the expected upper management address to the group. Talking about where we've been as a directorate, and where we want to be in the future.

The afternoon, was where we got down to business, discussing an employee survey that show some unfavourable results in a few key areas. The entire afternoon was spent discussing the areas of improvement necessary for the directorate to move forward and grow, and it included some open and frank discussions about suggestions on how to improve our workplace.

I am not sure if everything will be solved from an half day of open discussion - but what I can say, is 'WOW - does it ever feel good to get that off my chest'.

In one afternoon, I was able to get out what has been bugging me about my job for the last few months. Instead of grumbling to myself and a few colleagues from time to time, I was actually able to put some real suggestions on the table and feel as though, at the very least, I had been heard.

Although there were no pedicures and massages during the retreat - I feel as though the day was spent rejuvenating my spirits in the workplace - and that in itself was treat. The entire day has done wonders from my day to day work - I actually returned to my regular workload today, feeling as though I might actually accomplish something and feel good about it for once!

Does your workplace ever offer the opportunity to speak up and offer suggestions from change?

Thanks for nothing!

Earlier this week I went to the doctor to follow up on some tests she ordered as a part of my regular annual check-up.

She said she was running standard tests that should be run about my age. She also informed me that she wanted to see me again after the results.

So... I did the tests back in November, and I finally got into see the doctor for my 'follow-up' just this week.

On the morning of the appointment, it was pouring rain and foggy as all hell. The pay parking lot for the medical building was jammed, and I had to drive around for 15 minutes waiting for a spot to free up, making me 25 minutes late for my appointment!

By the time I got into the office, the waiting room was filled with young mothers and screaming infants, most of whom just had their shots and had to wait 20 minutes before being permitted to leave the office. These infants were none too happy to be chilling out in the entrance way waiting on the doc to give them the go ahead - one of them screamed at the top of their lungs for 3 minutes straight - to which I mentally noted to myself 'buy condoms today'!

After about 30 minutes, the receptionist showed me into a room. I sat their for another 20 minutes and finally the doctor came in. The conversation goes like this:

Doctor: Hi ... (glancing at the chart) Mrs. Coleman.
Me: Hi.

Doctor: So what brings you into today?
Me: (are you kidding me lady?) Umm... you asked me to come in to follow up on some tests you asked me to get done at the lab.

Doctor: Oh yes... okay, let me look for the results.
Me: (rolling my eyes) - okay.

Doctor: Yes, yes, here they are ... okay so I will just run done them and if you have any questions, just ask.
Me: Okay.

Doctor: Okay, your cholesterol is very good. Your sodium is good. Your sugar levels are good. The vaccination you had for Hep. B a few years back worked and is good, and your blood showed well in all areas.
Me: Great.

Doctor: Do you have any questions?
Me: (thinking to myself .. did I ask any questions?) - Nope.

Doctor: Alright then, considering you won't need me again this year, I will see you next fall.
Me: Okay.

Doctor: Have a great day.
Me: (not possible... but I force out) you too.

What a waste of time the entire appointment was - I mean seriously... did that require a face to face meeting to say everything is A. okay?

It cost me $4.00 is parking and I missed a morning of work, which puts me further behind than I already am with half my clients.

All I can think is ... that little face-to-face meeting probably cost the health care system 200 plus dollars just to tell me NOTHING.

Honestly... we must have a better system than this... how 'bout the 'ol: don't call us, we'll call you tag line. Or...you don't need to come if, unless the tests show something abnormal.

Yes, I know I shouldn't complain... it could have been a lot worse, the tests could have showed something negative and I could have received bad news during the visit.

I guess I will try being thankful that I am good health - but even in good health, I am annoyed!

Any annoying visits to your doctor that you would like to share?

Mama Mia!

This weekend, I went to see Mama Mia at the NAC here in Ottawa, with my parents and their friends. What a FANTASTIC show it was.

I love love love ABBA... their songs are super catchy and generally put me in a good mood. The acting was great... and the storyline was all around entertaining. I was really impressed with how a simple stage setup could be used to tell a 3-hour story. Amazing!

The music was really well intertwined into the storyline and it made for a great afternoon. I laughed quite a bit throughout the show... which was also unexpected, but came as a nice surprise!

I really enjoyed the part of the mother and her two sisters (Sophie's aunts)... the actresses' played their roles really well - and were very comical throughout the show!

Overall... Mama Mia gets rave reviews from this happy viewer, I know my parents and their friends also really enjoyed the show too- I would definitely see it again!

Have you seen Mama Mia or any other Broadway type shows that you would recommend?

2008 - The year of getting what I want!

It's officially here, the year 2008.

Happy New Year to each of you, my lovely/faithful blogging readers!
Bonne année à tous mes peeps dans le monde du blogging!

2008 - WOW! It's come upon us quickly, don't you think? I mean... really - the 365 days of 2007 literally went zipping by... and well I feel like a lot was accomplished in 2007, it leaves me wanting more for 2008.

It's always around this time of year that I make a list of things I want to do in this round of 365.

Do this happen to you in January of every. single. year. - you start making all of these mental lists in your head of things you want to do before the year is complete? (I could really curse the brainiac who came up with this New Year's bullshit anyways - way too much thinking involved for my liking)!

I am to the point right now that I start every internal thought with the words 'I want to... I want this... I want... want... want...'

I absolutely hate that my wants are so high right now. I mean - if I don't get what I say I want - does that mean I will have failed myself in some respect?

I know a lot of people look at their 'wants' as goals - goals and aspirations for the New Year. I do that, I've done that, and I am done doing that ... I think!

This is the year I throw caution to the wind... I won't use my wants to set goals, I will simply want things and I will get them. And if I don't get them, I will forget I wanted them, and move onto something else I want more.

How's that for making non-resolutions? For 2008 - I am doing what I want.... when I want, where I want, and with whom I want... and when the year is done, if I still want more, I won't have regrets, I will just carry over this little attitude of mine into 2009!

Yes... it's the year of wanting... and getting what I want.

Are you with me?

I think right now I will start with a Starbucks! Yup.... I am going to get a Starbucks, because I WANT ONE, right now!

What is it that you want this year?