Up Close & Personal

This blog is pure fluff tonight. I don't know why - I didn't sit down at the computer with any intentions to post at all today. I'm just in that sort of mood, I guess. Maybe it's the muscle relaxant I took a couple hours ago because I did something awful to my back today.

Maybe I just felt like posting some random photos....

Random shots, of animals, people, things in my life that sometimes have me wondering "How would I feel if I drank a glass of wine with that muscle relaxant?".

It's not really a question, by the way....

Or maybe, with this sudden cold weather (again) and snow on the ground (yet again), I was feeling a bit nostalgic for some warm, Summer weather...

Er...maybe not.

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

The little man went through his first test at Tae Kwon Do last Friday. Needless to say, he passed and now has upgraded to the yellow stripe belt. How proud am I? Extremely. (I aplogize for the poor quality photos - next time I'll make sure I'm actually in the room instead of outside and having to zoom in).

It was quite a process - he actually had to learn a little routine (they call it a pattern) over the last couple of months. When it was his turn, after a half hour warm up, he was called out to the floor with two other little white-belt boys and they had to go through the pattern in front of the Grand Master, about 5 or 6 black-belts that are also instructors, everyone else that was being tested and of course, parents and siblings that are watching. It's gotta be nerve-wracking for these kids, especially for the first time.

But he did it almost perfectly (he just wasn't punching properly) - and then he had to sit around the edge of the mat and wait. And wait. And wait....while everyone else did their testing in groups of 3's & 4's.

Then, once all the patterns were complete, they lined up about 6 at a time and had their turns at kicking the wooden board to try to break it. Each person had 3 try's, then they had to sit down and wait for the others to go through. Evan had his 3 try's, but didn't manage to break his. Then, they all got to try again - and lo and behold on Evan's first try he broke it! The look on his face was priceless. It's like he almost didn't believe that he had just broken a board with his foot. I couldn't get a good picture of him breaking it, but next time I swear I'm going to video it. Give me a break - it was our first experience in this and I wasn't really aware of what we were in for.

Good Times

I've been overhearing some snide remarks made about not having posted about this yet and I can just hear QC sighing "It's about eff'n time" right now.

Just over a week ago, my beautiful BFF put together an (exactly one month overdue) amazing little Girls Night Out 30'th Birthday Bash for your's truly. Unfortunately, I'm not the best with the camera-duty so you can view most of the pictures here.

We started out with Piera picking me up (though I was chauffer for the drive down because apparently I'm a faster driver? Whatever, I'm not legally blind in one eye). The first stop: Bloom Essentials for some pampering. Though I have to say, I almost forgot about receiving a luxurious massage when I heard a voice that I hadn't heard in almost 3 years. I think I just about screamed when I saw that beautiful smile of Siobhan's - what a wonderful surprise! I managed to get in a quick embrace before I was whisked off for my sooooo relaxing and much required 45-minute-long massage. Aaaahhh...it was wonderful. Courtney had her massage once mine was complete and she had that exact same look on her face when she walked out as I did. Meanwhile, Siobhan, Julie and Bex had pedicures and some gorgeous-looking toes after and our girl Carly had her very first manicure. I was going to post a photo of her Vixen-like nails on here but I think I'm going to save it for some future usage.

After the pampering and some wine and goodies we moved on to dinner and martini's at Delilah's. The food was fabulous and the drinks definitely lived up to our expectations. It was there that my wonderfully patient friends got me to open my gifts - hand lotions from Courtney and Bex (is that an age thing? I need to moisturize more now?), an intriguing-looking book from Bex (I can't wait for my mid-term to be done so I can sneak some time in to read it), a Starbucks gift card from Shivvy (that girl knows my weakness for vanilla lattes), an adorable little pink dish and some cool trinkets from Carly (who had also previously given me an uber-cool "Class of '77" t-shirt) and the kicker from Julie:

First, I opened the card that read: Now that you are youth-impaired, I got you a few essentials. I hope Adam is ready for you transformation now that you'll be sitting on the couch in your granny panties with rollers in your hair, mask on your face & eyes, drinking your precious Tassimo coffee.

In the bag was one of those gel eye masks that you keep in the fridge (great for hangovers!), a clay mask for the face, a package of hair-rollers, a pack of capuccino for the Tassimo and my very first pair of granny panties.

How awesome is she?

Now, I know I'm supposed to have Adam take a picture of me all decked out like she said on her card and, believe me, it will happen. But for now, since she seems to be so enthralled with all the goodies that I brought home after that night, you'll have to settle for mini-me:

We actually had a fun time putting them all in her hair. Then afterward she wanted me to try to paint ladybugs on her toes but we had to settle for polka dots since I'm not the most artistic (especially with a nail polish brush on the teeniest of toenails).

All in all, I had a fabulous birthday and will definitely remember this one forever. Thanks to everyone that made it as wonderful as it was (even the out-of-towner that couldn't attend in person but she was definitely there in spirit!)

The Launch of Flat Evan

Last year, when Evan was in grade 2, his class read the story Flat Stanley. It's a neat little story about a kid who was flattened when a bulletin board fell on him. He had wanted to visit with friends in California but it was too expensive to go by plane or train. Since Stanley was so flat, his parents mailed him to see his friends.

After Evan's class read the story, they all drew their own Flat Stanley's. Of course, most of the kids drew themselves instead of Stanley. The teacher then left it up to them if they wanted to mail their Flat Stanley's to people they knew in other cities and have those people send back photos of Stanley visiting all the different places. Unfortunately, Evan didn't have his ready in time to be taken to Paris last February with his future bride, Carly (snicker). However, his travels did eventually take off in September when he was taken to New Zealand and Australia courtesy of Nan & Papa Smith. (See photo of Flat Evan hanging with his Nan at the Opera House in Sidney Harbour).

I think this is the cutest thing ever and have been contemplating a blog just for Flat Evan. What I have finally decided to do is let the little guy take off and see where he ends up. Evan and I will make up a little note with Flat Evan's story, put him in an envelope with some instructions and send him off. His first destination, of course, is San Diego, California. You know who you are.

The going-away party will have to coincide with a certain someone's birthday dinner this Saturday...which just happens to also be KRISTIN'S 30th BIRTHDAY.

It's So Barren In Here There's An Echo

I've actually been a wee bit social lately and between that, a demanding job, demanding kids and American Idol auditions there has been no time to blog. Or check blogs. Or read my 126 new emails, for that matter. PLEASE - I can hardly keep up with text messages these days.

And for those of you that I don't actually talk to on a regular basis, I'll have to update you on my life changes.

Adam and I have been having a difficult time lately juggling our commutes to work and dropping off/picking up children from various schools and caregivers. We both have joint custody situations and it's difficult that we live in one suburb, my kids go to daycare and school in another (close by) and Claudia goes to school close to where her mother lives, about a half hour drive in the opposite direction. So you can understand our frustration. Adding drop-offs and pick-ups to our already long (an hour +) commutes to work makes for an extra half hour or forty-five minutes. Then by the time we get home, we're so exhausted we can barely carry on conversations with each other.

So our solution? We are going to move. He's going to move closer to his work and Claudia's school, and I will move closer to my kids' daycare and schools. It's the only way to do it and save our sanity. We are very much still together and we will still spend as much time together as we do now (we always have those days where we have no children and will happily spend the entire time together, just the two of us). There is absolutely nothing wrong in our relationship - which is what makes this so weird. A lot of people are having a hard time accepting our decision. I mean really - had we never moved in together, would that have been weird? I don't think so.

Whether or not other people can accept our decision doesn't matter to us at all. What matters is that we're happy, we both think that we are making the right decision and we both feel that our children will be better off being closer to their friends and their schools and spending less time being driven back and forth all over the place. And you never know what the future may bring us - I'm sure we'll be living together again at some point in the future.

Besides, doesn't absence make the heart grow fonder?