Today I...November 30th

Today I...

...am sharing this picture I took of Quinn on Sunday with you. I figured she could use some 'blog spotlight' time as well :o)

...am suffering from PMS and it sucks. I feel all bloated and yucky and am irritable. Hopefully this shall be relieved tomorrow since I'm leaving for Toronto to spend four days with my Sweetheart and do not want to be too hindered by 'things'.

...spent a bit of time with V who came by to pick up the keys to my place so she can take care of my kitties while I'm away.

...am hoping that my Sweetheart will pop onto Skype at some point this evening, otherwise we won't be able to talk until we see each other on Thursday!

Today I...November 28th

Today I...

...nearly forgot to write this post!!!

...am sharing a picture of my nicely organized kitchen storage space. There is one more panel to this storage area, but I couldn't fit it into this shot. I felt like showing this off because until this morning, the thing was a horrible mess. That's why there's no 'before' shot, I was too embarrassed to show it lol But now, I am most proud to show it to the world!

...am sharing two pictures of Magique with you from yesterday. In the photo above, she is miffed at me for blowing her cover and taking a picture of her to prove it.

...and here she is in stealth mode again, with her best 'I'm waiting to spring on the first pray that comes along' look on her face. She was still doing quite well with the Christmas tree today, although I did have to yell 'DON'T EAT THE TREE!!!' a few times. Oh well, it's not like I was surprised by the fact :-J

Today I...November 27th

Today I...

...am sharing this picture of the Oratory see through some trees with you.

...was quite busy and got a lot done! I vacuumed, had a short visit from my grandparents, ran some errands, did the laundry and baked chocolate chip cookies!

...loved seeing Magique curl up and go to sleep under my Christmas tree rather than pawing at the ornaments and knocking it over like she used to do with my smaller one!!!

...also loved seeing Magique curl up and go to sleep for the better part of the afternoon on my housecoat on the bottom shelf of my bathroom organizer after I took it off the hook on the back of the door in order to hang a blouse there to dry.

...found Magique lying on the aforementioned house coat after wanting to see what was preventing her from bugging me while I was baking my cookies! Quinn was the one hanging around the kitchen with me instead, but was allowed to remain in the room because she was watching the operation discretely whereas Magique normally ends up locked in the bedroom while I bake after literally sticking her nose in things.

...am now heading off to bed to read my book. I'll probably be done with 'Fall of Giants' this week. What a wonderfully written novel, if any of you enjoy epic length novels you should give it a shot!

Today I...November 26th

Today I...

...am sharing a few pictures of my brand new Christmas tree with you. My brother picked me up after work and we went to Canadian Tire and he bought me the tree as an early Christmas present. I was so happy, as I really needed a new tree (my other one was nearly 10 years old) but it was a bit beyond my budgetary means. Never let it be said that I do my job for the money...
...am revealing to you that I have a thing for angels.

...am very happy with my tree. It is six feet tall, pre-lit and has a four legged stand, so it is cat proof! My furry felines will not be knocking my tree over, so I was able to put all the ornaments I wanted on it!

...put the rest of my decorations up too, but my apartment is bigger than the one I had before, so it could use a few more pieces to make it look truly festive. I'll see what I can do about that if I have any spare money, otherwise I'll just build up my stock fore next year when the Christmas decoration sales heat up after January 1st!

Skywatch Friday

This week's Skywatch feature is a photo of Florence taken from a terrace in the Boboli Gardens, which are in the old sector of Florence, across the river from the 'new' Renaissance -era section of the city. I think visiting the gardens and the Pitti Palace was my favorite part of my stay in Florence, that and my visit to the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral.

To see more skies from around the world, head on over to the Skywatch Friday blog. I hope you all have a lovely weekend and happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers!

Today I...November 24th

Today I...

...am sharing this photo of my aunt and uncle's two little kitchen helpers. Why? Because I am contemplating spending a good bit of time in my kitchen this weekend in order to make a crock pot meal and bake some cookies. Yum...

...had a slightly quieter day at the office today, thank Heavens! I think I would have gone bonkers if the flow of phone calls coming into the office had kept up with that on Monday and Tuesday.

...was submitted to a day of Christmas music C and D were tired of listening to our usual classical music station, so they opted for an American station out of Plattsburgh which is already playing Christmas music all day every day. Ugh...my tactic for tomorrow? Bring in a few of my Christmas music CDs, that way if I must listen to perpetual Christmas music, at least it will be music that I like!!!

...spoke with my Sweetheart for a little bit. He was actually about to call me when I called him, he was wondering what time I was getting into Toronto on Thursday next week because there was a really nice concert on at the TSO, but unfortunately I'm getting in a half hour after the concert starts and I can't change my ticket :o( Oh well, no big deal. He'll just go to the concert the day before with a buddy.

Today I...November 23rd

Today I...

...am happy that I have the time and stamina to post, because boy, have I had two crazy days at work!!! That is why I am sharing this very laid back, soothing picture of Quinn with you, since just looking at her in this photo makes me feel so relaxed.

...feel like I have been on the go since Monday morning. I was running around at work all day yesterday and today and it will probably be like this for the next few weeks, so please, bare with me if I don't have the time to make it to your blogs or if I skip a day of posting here and there.

...am asking you to pray for a miracle for my colleague L. For those of you who didn't see my original post about her, she is our director of communications and she was diagnosed with liver cancer about a month ago. They ran some tests to see the seriousness of her condition and to find out if the cancer had spread and the news is not good and her doctors have decided that the only thing they can do for her is to keep her as comfortable as possible. Please, pray for her to feel as well as possible for as long as possible and pray for a miracle for her. Words cannot describe what a kind, loving person L is and we would so love for her to get well and come back to work with us so she can greet us with a smile again every time she sees us...even if we cross her path 10 times a day.

...am so very much looking forward to my mini vacation at my Sweetheart's next week. I have my friend V lined up for pet-sitting duties and have planned out a birthday surprise for my Sweetheart (who naturally does not read here, so no, I have not just spilled the beans ;o) ). Yup, it will be just what I need to help me get through the Christmas Rush at work!

Today I...November 21st

Today I...

...am sharing this photo I took of the backyard of my mom's place back in the winter of 2008. Actually, this photo was taken on March 8th, 2008 after our umpteenth snowstorm of that winter. The hit every two weeks from mid-December on, or even earlier like clockwork. I don't remember exactly when the snow started falling that Winter, all I know is that by the time it finally stopped, we were all ready to rip our hair out and run down South screaming every time we saw a snowflake!!! Anyhow, I am sharing this photo with you tonight because winter is coming, slowly but surely. There's a freezing rain warning on tonight, so we can no longer deny it. Yup, I may have to wear my boots tomorrow. Ugh...

...didn't do much of anything really. I spoke with my friend P, read my book and went to the pharmacy to buy some moisturizer and then read my book some more.

...am wondering what in Heaven's name has gotten into my upstairs neighbors today, they're being so loud!

...spent over an hour on Skype with my Sweetheart, one hour, twelve minutes and thirteen seconds to be exact :o) He was sounding much cheerier than when I last spoke to him on Thursday, so I was quite happy about that. I'll speak to him next on Wednesday probably and am hoping he will be just as cheery :o)

Today I...November 20th

Today I...

...am sharing this picture I took of the Oratory at this time last year with you. I shared it with you back then as well, but I thought I would put it up again :o)

...am feeling a bit discouraged by my lack of money. I've come to the realization that as much as I would like to be able to go on vacation with my Sweetheart his summer I probably won't be able to. I haven't given up all hope yet, but it certainly isn't looking too good at this point. I love my job, but I sure wish I was paid more.

...had a pretty quiet day.

...was happy when my Grandma G came over for a surprise visit and gave me 20$ and a purse she wasn't using anymore. I told her the other day that my latest one was falling apart and she dug one out that she thought would suit me nicely and it does :o) at least I won't have to be embarrassed about my purse anymore, now if only I could afford a new pair of shoes!

...read my book a bit and am looking forward to getting back to it.

...am looking forward to watching 'Flashpoint' tonight!

Skywatch Friday

This week's Skywatch features are some photos I took of the sunset from the Oratory last Sunday, as promised yesterday :o) I chose one shot taken from each end of the visible sky, the first one facing West toward the airport and Lake St-Louis, which is actually a widening in the St-Lawrence river and the other one and the other one facing East toward the University of Montreal (that's the tower you can see, it houses offices and some of the University's libraries) and Côte-des-Neiges Cemetery.

To see more skies from around the world, head over to the Skywatch Friday Blog.

I hope you all have nice weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Today I...November 17th

Today I...

...am sharing this picture I took of the sunset at the Oratory last Sunday. I will share more photos from this series with you in my Skywatch Friday post tomorrow.

...called my landlord for another set of keys to my place. I only have two sets, mine and another, but I have two friends who take care of my lovely feline ladies when I travel and was tired of chasing down the keys every I switched kitty sitters, so set number three, here I come! It will be practical to the highest degree to have a third set, but the downside is that I have to pay 35$ for every set. Luckily, if I remember correctly, I get all the key deposits back when I move out of here. That probably won't be any time soon, but still, at least I know my money isn't totally down the drain!

...called my massage therapist from last year with a plea for help for my lower back. Hopefully she'll get back to me soon. I believe I may have damaged myself through a combination of two bad falls on my backside during one of my visits to Toronto last winter. I fell twice in one walk and started having issues not long after that, but I have the feeling that sitting at a desk so much at work isn't agreeing with me too much either.

...am looking forward to Friday night and then weekend.

...think that what I really need, rather than just a weekend, is a vacation. I may try and see if I can get away for a few days during my week off at Christmas, otherwise I 'ain't going nowhere' (except Toronto, of course) until at least May I think. Ugh...

Today I...November 16th

Today I...

...am having a pictureless post. Hasn't happened in a while, I know, but I really need to go out and take some new ones I think, like a whole slew of them! I am saving some new ones for my Skywatch post on Thursday though :o)

...was so happy for Prince William and Kate Middleton when I found out they were engaged. It made me smile and kept me smiling all afternoon, they're such a lovely couple and they look so, so happy together.

...spoke to my Sweetheart for a half hour. He was tired and overworked because they're working on a major project at work and he's been working a good bit of overtime. He's thinking of taking Friday off and I tried to convince him to do it, so hopefully he will.

...am thoroughly enjoying 'Fall of Giants' so I went to see on Ken Follett's website when the next book in the trilogy will be coming out...not until 2012!!! Oh boy, what a wait!!! Hopefully he won't leave us with too much of a cliffhanger...

Today I...November 14th

Today I...

...am sharing this photo that I took of the Oratory while waiting for the bus with you. My one planned outing of the day was to go and take pictures of the sunset at the Oratory. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't cooperate too much on that front, but I was most pleased with the series of photos I took of the Oratory...all three of them lol

...had a very laid back day and stayed in my jammies until 3:00 P.M. It felt lovely :o)

...enjoyed getting deeper into 'Fall of the Giants', Ken Follett's latest bible length (987 pages) book.

...got an unexpected invite to dinner from my brother. We went to a little Italian Place on Notre Dame Street, which was pretty good.

...spoke with my Sweetheart for a little while. He had some friends over for the weekend unexpectedly and they had a good time. His next guest will be his sister next weekend, then the following weekend he's coming here and the weekend after that I'm going there. He's a busy guy, hopefully he won't be all tuckered out by the time I get there! lol

Today I...November 13th

Today I...

...am apologizing for not being the best poster this week or the best blog commenter. I'm tired from working so much last month and from feeling downright lousy on Wednesday and Thursday, so last night I just wanted to have a 'me' night and shut off the computer early.

...am sharing another picture from last week's dog show with you, a shot of that lovely yellow lab going over the jump to fetch the article for his owner.

...got the laundry and the vacuuming done.

...am looking for a way to appropriately humidify my bedroom to hopefully help me sleep better. My apartment has been so dry since the heating has been turned on that it's unreal and I think that's part of the reason why I have not been sleeping very well. It's also a horror for my voice and my sinuses.

...am going out to dinner with two friends tonight, G and G (yup, they both have the same name, one of them has been my friend since grade five and the other we, the 1st G and I, met in high school). We're going out to a Japanese restaurant on Ste-Catherine street which is supposed to be amazing according to Urbanspoon and Chowhound. I can't wait!

Skywatch Friday

This week's Skywatch feature is this photo of a sailor working on the rigging at the very top of a Tall Ship's mast. I took this photo back in mid-September when a group of Tall Ships sailed into Montreal's Old Port for the weekend.

I hope you all have a great weekend, don't forget to start it off by going to see more great Skywatch photos on the Skywatch Friday blog

Today I...November 10th

Today I...

...am finally sharing some photos I took at the Salon National des Animaux de Compagnie's dog obedience competition with you. I took some photos of two of the competitors, a yellow lab and a black standard poodle. The lab was the better of the the two, but the poodle did well too. The first photo is my favorite, it's such a wonderful example of the love between people and their pets, there's nothing like it :o)
Here you can see the lab's owner throwing a wooden article over a jump. Dogs have to go over the jump, pick up the article and bring it back to their owners by going back over the jump. They then have to sit back by their owner as you can see the dog doing here. They don't get full points if they don't do all of that.
Today I...

...had a very short work day. I dreamed that I had a migraine during the night and woke up to find out that I was not, in fact just dreaming that I had a migraine, I actually had one. I decided to try going to work anyhow. My plan was to wait it out until lunch and see how I was doing, but I didn't even make it that long and left work about two hours after getting there. Ouch is all I can as to how I was feeling. Major, major ouch...

...went straight to bed when I got home and slept from 11:00 A.M. to 2:45 P.M. I was feeling better when I woke up and figured I had better get up or else I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

...trudged out to the grocery store because otherwise I would have had no breakfast tomorrow since I ate the last of my cereal this morning.

...was finally free of my migraine at about 6:00 P.M. I still get twinges every once in a while, but nothing compare to what I had earlier and I am also free of that foggy feeling that comes with a migraine.

...am going to feed my cats and my fish and then curl up in bed with my book.

Today I...November 9th

Today I...

...am sharing another clip from 'Love Actually' with all of you. If any of you like Hugh Grant, this is classic :o)

...am feeling better, hopefully my cold will be pretty much gone by tomorrow.

...brought some of the pilaf I made on Friday to J. He loves rice and has some in his lunch pretty much every day, so I figured I would try some of mine out on him. If he likes it, I'll bring him ore because I have so much of the stuff it would take me at least two weeks to eat all of it!

...spent an hour talking on Skype with my Sweetheart. Me? giddy after speaking with him for so long? Nah... :o)

...am hoping you get a giggle out of this film clip, I'll try and have those dog show photos on my PC tomorrow so I can share a few with you. I meant to do it tonight, but then I spent an hour on Skype, so it didn't happen. I'm sorry...and yet I'm not :oJ

Today I...November 7th

Today I...

...am sharing this photo from my visit to the Salon National des Animaux de Compagnie at the Olympic Stadium last year with you. I went again today, but the crowd, if you can imagine it, was even bigger than this one so I didn't stay as long as last year and didn't take as many pictures. I don't have the one's from today on my computer yet, but I'll try and get that done on Tuesday and will share a few with you then.

...am apologizing for not posting yesterday. I have come down with a cold and just wanted to go to bed early last night, which I managed to do. I finally got around to watching 'Love Actually' and then was out like a light and took full advantage of 'free hour of sleep' night, one of my favorite nights of the year ;o)

...am hoping that I didn't give this cold to my Sweetheart, but for all I know I may have caught it from him. I'll ask him about it on Tuesday, but if he's not online, then I'll have a pretty fair hint that he has indeed come down with this cold as well. I'm bombarding mine with Cold FX, but he's not as willing to pop supplements and things as I am, so he tends to suffer more when he has colds, plus he gets them more often than I do. My last cold goes back to February, whereas he had one in October!

...can't believe the weekend is already over! Time sure flies when you're having fun!

...keep daydreaming about my Sweetheart. I can't wait for it to be the first weekend of December so I can go and visit him!

Today I...November 5th

Today I...

...am sharing this photo of the strawberry heart my Sweetheart made for me on Valentine's Day this year. I shared it with you already in this post, but I just spent a lovely evening with my Sweetheart, so I figured I would share it with you again :o)

...woke up at 11:00 A.M. Yes, I had the day off, it's one of my two 'Recovering from the Canonization' days off, my next one is on December 3rd. It felt lovely to be able to sleep in so late.

...made a creamy wild rice pilaf in my slow cooker.

...went to Indigo Books Downtown and bought two books, Ken Follett's new one 'Fall of Giants' and another entitled 'The Postmistress' by Sarah Blake. I'm starting off with 'The Postmistress' because the Ken Follett book is massive (932 pages) and I didn't want to go through it wondering about 'The Postmistress'.

...ended up rushing home from the bookstore because I happened to open my e-mails while there and saw that my Sweetheart had sent me a message at 4:00 P.M. telling me that he finished work at 5:00 P.M. and would be coming straight to my place after. The thing was that I red his message at 5:10 P.M.!!! I was on the phone with my dad at the time and literally ended up saying 'Oh damn, I have to go!!!' I was stepping out of the subway 10 minutes from my place at 5:40 P.M. and calling my Sweetheart right away, I was so worried I had missed him! He didn't pick up, so I left him a message and he called me back right away telling me that he had gotten held up at work for a bit, so he was only leaving then. Phew!

...am now so looking forward to my visit to my Sweetheart's in precisely 27 days.

Skywatch Friday

This week's Skywatch feature is this photo I took of the Arno River in Florence from the Ponte Vecchio when I was in Italy back in 2006. Yup, an oldie... :o) It's one of my favorite photos from that trip though, so I figured I would share it with you guys.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend, you can start it off on the right foot by checking out all of the other Skywatch photos that the Skywatch Friday Blog has to offer :o)

Today I...November 3rd

Today I...

...figured I would share the video you will find at the bottom of this post with you instead of a picture. It's a scene from 'Love Actually', one of my favorite movies, featuring Rowan Atkinson, aka: M. Bean. The movie is full of funny moments, but this one is one of the best I find :o)

...was supposed to give a tour, but ended up not giving it since the group were a bit fewer than planned and they had already set things up to divide into three and not four. I must say I wasn't overly disappointed since I was feeling tired and therefore not really in 'giving a tour to a bunch of 15-16 year olds' mode.

...went to the grocery store since my fridge and pantry were both alarmingly bare and spent quite a while there hunting down the ingredients for my next crock-pot creation: creamy wild rice pilaf. I found everything but the wild rice, the closest I got a blend of different rices that included wild rice, so I went for that. I spent about a half hour in the store when grocery shopping usually takes me all of 10-15 minutes and just as I was getting off the bus realized that I had forgotten to buy the sour cream. Isn't that always the way of it? Oh well, I'll just buy some tomorrow.

...am very much looking forward to seeing my Sweetheart tomorrow or Friday! He ended up not heading back to Toronto on Sunday after all since the thought of trekking all the way back there only to have to turn around and come back to Montreal tonight was not at all appealing and I got an e-mail from him this morning asking me if I wanted to go out for coffee and dessert tomorrow night. Eep...slight problem, I'm supposed to go to dinner in the monastery with C and D tomorrow night because our boss and our former interim boss want to thank us for all our work when we were without a department head for eight months when our last boss up and dropped us right before Christmas last year. We've already put it off once because I had a choir practice and C was sick and we nearly put it off again this time because C isn't well again, but it was too late to call it off now that the cooks in the monastery have already set up the menu and bought the groceries and then my Sweetheart just had to pick tomorrow night at the last minute. Oh well, I offered up Friday instead seeing as I have the day off and will be making a delectable dinner of which there will be more than enough for two, so hopefully he'll be willing to switch to Friday as long as he is still free. We shall see, but really, I don't mind as long as I see him, I can always skitter out of the monastery a bit early :o)

...am hoping you enjoy today's Feature Presentation :o)

Today I...November 2nd

Today I...

...am sharing this picture of my first cat Cinnamon with you. I've written about him on here once before in one of my earliest posts, but haven't show him off again. Here he is sitting in my suitcase on the day I left for Italy back in 2006. he would do this every time I took out my suitcase because he realized pretty darn quick what it meant! Didn't he have an amazing 'You know you're taking me with you, right?' face?

...am asking you all to pray for my dear colleague 'L', our director of communications. She had colon cancer several years ago and had been in remission for six years, but had apparently (even though she kept it hidden from most of us, namely C, D, and I) been feeling unwell for about a year. We found out last week that she was diagnosed with liver cancer and found out today that things don't look good at all when she asked our director of personnel to have us say a special mass for her. We're going to have it on Thursday morning at 8:00 A.M., but I would so appreciate if you could all say prayers for her as of now. L is such a kindhearted woman, always smiling and happy, the kind of person who lights up a room when she walks in and has such a passion for her job. We all want so much for her to get well again, so won't you send some prayers and-or positive thoughts her way?

...was happy to be able to sleep in this morning since I was only starting at noon. That's the upside of working afternoon-to-evening shifts. The downside is that it sets my inner clock all out of whack, or at least when I do it as often as I have been lately. My body doesn't know what to expect anymore I think!

...still feel all warm and fuzzy when I remember holding one of my fellow choristers' newborn son last night. It had been years since I had held a baby in my arms and I had forgotten what an amazing feeling it is...especially when they smile at you as two-month old Baby O is just starting to do...nothing turns on the 'Mommy' instincts more than that!