Thank You Luke Bryan

So I've been sick for almost a week now. And for the past two nights, I've had some rotten sleep. I don't know if it's my cold meds wearing off at the same time, or if it's just bad karma, but I keep waking up around 2am, and it's at least an hour before I can fall back asleep. Now to most, it wouldn't be so bad, but I do the morning show on the weekends. So I'm up at 5am Saturdays and 4am Sundays. So needless to say I feel like a friggin' zombie. There's not enough Tim Hortons in the world to wake me up. But this morning as I was getting ready for my show, this video caught my eye. If you love country music, and miss the days of fun videos from artists, check this makeshift video out from Luke Bryan! SO funny! It woke me up and made my day. I hope you enjoy it too!


Fun fact: the pig in the video totally crapped on Luke! Second fun fact: This is the second time Luke Bryan has been featured in this blog!

Holidays Days 4-7

I can assure you that you haven't missed much. What did I do for the last few days of freedom? Jack. Shit. Well, I suppose that's not entirely true, but I certainly didn't do a lot. Thanks Mother Nature! Just when we hoped it would warm up a bit to do some road-trippin', we got hit with another dump of snow. Fortunately, the Jeep could handle it, so I let my lovebug chauffeur me around town. We decided to go see a movie to at least get out of the apartment. We agreed on Black Swan, which I thought I wanted to see, but at the same time, was a little hesitant. It got a great review as a date movie from my pal Dave, so I thought, hmmm...if Dave liked it, it must be good! If you're not familiar with it, (to which I say, get out from under your rock!) here's the trailer.

I'll be honest. I didn't like it. 20 minutes in, I was SO uncomfortable, I wanted to leave. But I toughed it out. And I'll be straight up. I hate feet. Toenails gross me out. Typing that word just makes me gag. And so to watch a film with close ups of gross, dancer feet almost made me hurl in the theatre. But, like a big girl, I just turned my head and hoped it was over. Out of 5, I give it a 1. I really didn't like how it fucked with my head. That being said, the cast of the film was perfect. I couldn't see anyone else do the roles, and I can see why Natalie Portman won the Golden Globe and has been nominated for an Oscar. My lovebug really enjoyed the film. He gave it a 4/5 easy. And he liked it for more than the giant lesbian scene. But he's a thinker and can deal with these kind of movies. I don't always like to think when I watch a movie.
Aside from that, I did some laundry, visited with friends and family....took my bottles into the depot...pretty mundane. But at the same time, it was a much-needed vacation. I really didn't want to go back to work haha.
If you see Black Swan, let me know what you think.

Holidays Days 2 & 3

Yesterday was Day 2 of my holidays. Not an overly exciting day. I got the call back from the bank. No money for this honey! Which almost brought me to tears. I'm going to try and do a budget for next month, and Gail Vas-Oxlade suggests looking at your bank statement from the previous month and going from there. Since last month was Christmas, and I had a lot of bonus money coming in, I'm finding it really difficult to get an accurate number. So I shall try for February 1st. Other than that, the boyfriend and I determined I am also a stuck fool in my parking lot of broken dreams. As you can see from the picture below, I am barely able to get into my car!

Funny story though...in getting into my car I ended up splitting the seam of my pants! I was so choked! I would be the only person to lose 20+ lbs and still split their pants. Oh well, I guess this means I get to go shopping...oh WAIT! Except I can't because I'm in debt up past my arse.
So that was essentially Day 2. We went to the grocery store and my boyfriend cooked for me for the second time in our relationship. He made a chicken dish which was tasty and super healthy! Chicken thighs (you can use chicken breasts if you wanted) covered in chopped bell peppers and mushrooms. with a bit of light shredded cheese on top, a lot of salsa and more cheese. It actually worked out quite nicely and it made for an AWESOME lunch the second day! That was pretty much it. We watched Despicable Me, which he hadn't seen yet and we LOL'd. What an excellent movie!

Day 3, still stuck, so I ask for a ride to the gym. No worries. I also started the Couch to 5K program today. Essentially it trains you to run to a 5K in like 6 weeks. Today's work out was a 5 minute warm up, followed by 20 minutes alternating between running (60sec) and walking (90sec). I had a REALLY good workout afterwards and found I had a ton of energy to burn! I also picked up this handy-dandy gadget from my gym. It's called the easyFIT. I mainly bought it to track my calories burnt more efficiently, but I'm hoping I will fall in love with it for the rest of it's features. Now we're hopefully off to a movie! "Black Swan" I think as won the vote...however I kinda want to see "The King's Speech".

Debt

What a dirty, four-letter word. Have you ever taken the time to see how much debt you actually have? And at what interest rates? It'll astonish you, that I can tell you. Unless you're one of those smart people who know how to manage your money. If you're one of them, good for you. Some of us aren't as lucky. I was young and although I understood it wasn't "free money", debt repayment wasn't something I was going to worry about until later. Looks like "later" is right now. Tomorrow I get to meet with my bank and ask for a shit-ton of money for a consolidation loan. I just crunched the numbers, and it's kinda scary. Not as bad as a lot of people I know, but I'm not happy. I've been reading some of Gail Vaz-Oxlade's Q & A on her website. I also know from watching her show "Til Debt Do Us Part" that it's so pivotal to get this paid off now. I'm 25 and have just over $17,000 in debt. This includes credit cards, student loans, a car loan and a couple other things. I'm not ashamed by any means, but I'm hoping that putting it out there into the virtual world will help me get accountable and get me paying this off. Though I'll be honest, it'd be easier if I could just get a big ol' cheque from the bank and pay them instead. I'll be praying to the money-gods tonight. If you have any stories or tips to share, please feel free to post them!

Holidays Day 1

I don't know if I could have picked a more perfect week in January to take some holidays. We just had a record snowfall and most of the folks in my parking lot are stuck. Suckers. I heard we got 20cm+ of snow in a 24 hr period. I believe it. According to the Government of Canada's website, our temps will improve tomorrow. There's still going to be snow, but we're looking at -7, -11, +2 and +1 over the next few days. Which is AWESOME. Which means, my lovebug and I will be able to fufill my Whitespot cravings and hit the road to Dawson Creek. If you've never been to a Whitespot before, I suggest you find one. They're mostly in BC but there are a couple in Alberta too. I'm seriously drooling over thoughts of a veggie burger with mushrooms, jack cheese, cucumbers, and mayo with sweet potato fries. Oh god....I wish I could find a picture and show you. I used to work at the one in Leduc, so I figured out some wonderful food combos while I worked there. Anyways...I digress... here are some pics of the snow!

My car is the green one in the middle - Yesterday afternoon

This is less than 12 hrs later. The truck finally unstuck!

In the above pics, the vehicles on either side of me haven't moved in 3 weeks or so. The truck finally got boosted this morning and got pushed out of its stall. The car beside me however, has pretty much disappeared! One of my favorite comparison pics of the snowfall is of this unfortunate soul. I don't know the last time these cars moved, but again, these are less than 12 hours apart.

Gotta love Northern Alberta in January! Current temperature is -24C (-31C with the windchill). And judging by the amount of people who got stuck this morning, I've opted to stay inside and organize my receipts for tax time. Yep. This is how I've spent Day 1 of my holidays so far. My lovebug is on his way home from work and all road conditions leading to here are labeled as POOR. It's almost noon now, I bet he makes it home by 8pm. Normally it would take him 4.5hrs. Hope you're warmer where you are!

How Was Your Holiday?

"How was your holiday?" Makes for a great conversation starter. Even if you don't care, it makes it seem like you actually do. Chances are good, whoever you're asking will reply with "Pretty good, yours?" A quick exchange of post-holiday formalities. But this year...this is where I bring them down. I don't mean to, but I mean, you asked, didn't you?

I usually reply with "Not great..." and go from there with a story I couldn't even make up if I tried.

My Grandpa passed away in mid-December, which put a giant damper on things. I won't get into too much detail right now, I'll save my thoughts for their own post in the near future. But that set the tone for a less than stellar Christmas season.

I flew into Leduc on Christmas Eve Day. I got picked up at the airport at 8am, and was put to work as soon as I got to my mom's place. Which was fine, it helped take my mind off things. I got the turkey in the oven, and I mean, after only an hour or so in, it looked fantastic! I wish I had thought to take a picture when it was done. The stuffing inside was awesome too. Yeah, we're one of the families that stuffs our bird with home made stuffing (screw stove top) without fear of salmonella, botulism or communism...whatever it is you're supposedly at risk for. I also took on the jobs of veggie dip, mashed potatoes, yams, the mushroom/pea cream sauce, the lemon meringue tarts...there was SO much food, as you can see, and we only had nine for dinner. And a dog. He was equally pleased with the spread. A few hours before our ginormous dinner, I had planned to take the cabbage rolls to my brother's place since he only lived a few minutes away. I got a text from a friend that said "What's going on with the hostage situation in Aspen Creek??". I'm sorry, what? Aspen Creek is my mom's sub-division. All the details can be found on CTV Edmonton's website.We put the cabbage rolls in an hour before dinner and all ended well. Except I gained like 15lbs over the holidays.

How was your holiday?