Indulgence

On my way back from a meeting this morning I decided to skip the LRT ride and enjoy a gingerly walk on a brisk morning. The wind was blowing, people were bustling and I spotted a Second Cup! What the hell, a little indulgence is a good way of celebrating your life and it eats up time that you'd waste at work! Win-win situation.

In the last couple of days, I've had some revelations. I recognize that just because someone has pissed me off doesn't mean that anyone else deserves to experience the mood that person put me in, they deserve my best smile and a friendly attitude. Save the 'pissy-ness' for that first person.

I also discovered it feels good to smile, even when stuff is weighing on my mind, if I smile somehow my mood magically lightens even just a little bit.

It makes me smile when I sing in my car...doesn't matter if I can't sing cuz Kevin can't either! Ha ha ha! But seriously, I sing for me...if I thought I could sing I would've auditioned for Canadian Idol by now...thank you God for letting me recognize the fact that I could probably break glass and will never end up on one of those singing shows thinking I'm awesome when I completely suck!

But what makes me happiest is knowing that I treat people with respect. Funny how someone treating you with the utmost disrespect makes you even more respectful of others...you think they'd steal that from you. That would just be sad...they really are sad.

Caught Myself!

Tonight I opened up my calendar to see what I have on the go this week. Looks like I have a lot of meetings, a course on Wednesday, an employee retreat that I have to finish planning for and well a ton more projects to finish. I felt a little overwhelmed and a little disappointed in myself that I hadn't done a little prep work this weekend to lessen the load. I was about to log on to my Citrix account...and then I caught myself. It was just the other night that I wrote, "don't let all those stressful situations eat you up - sometimes it's best to hide out for a little while, take a vacation, learn to live life again instead of just getting through it". I didn't think it would be an effort to not work on the weekend - but it's a challenge for me knowing the stressful deadlines I'll be facing this week. But I don't get paid to work my weekends.


This is my time, time to recharge, time to live life. I really have to start listening to my own advice - I think it's pretty good!

Where'd May Go?

Ok, so I missed an entire month...good God, I missed an ENTIRE month! I wish it was because I was off in some wonderful foreign land, oh wait...I was! At least for half of it. As you know from my previous post, Bruce and I were in Italy for three weeks. The scary thing is we've been back for three weeks already! Holy cow! Italy was absolutely fantastic! We got home late on a Sunday, and no word of a lie I was online Monday morning looking for real estate in Italy. Such a magical place... something new and wonderful around every corner. Even the language woos you! My dreams are still filled with our trip and I pray that it lasts forever!

I seriously question why we choose to live in Edmonton. One day...but until then here's another photo:


There's always stress in our lives and there always will be but I bet I would deal with it better if I lived in Italy! Ha! At the very least, this trip reminded me that you need to take care of yourself, don't let all those stressful situations eat you up - sometimes it's best to hide out for a little while, take a vacation, learn to live life again instead of just getting through it. Italy came just at the right time. Ciao!

When the Moon Hits Your Eye...

Started today with seeing the Pope at the Vatican...two hours in the sun! Talk about a sunburn! We made our way across the Tiber River in search of the Pantheon...found some gelato first! Mmmmmm....bacio (chocolate hazelnut for me and tiramisu for Bruce). We stumbled across the Piazza Navona, an artist's paradise and were woo'ed into a pizzeria for lunch...I had margherita pizza and Bruce had pizza al funghi. We totally could have shared one - lesson for next time! With full tummies and my head bubbling with beer we made our way to the Pantheon - so many people!!! Learned how to shoot on manual as it was dark and light inside, very impressive! Here's a photo of the Colosseum from yesterday.

We decided to just walk after that and we stumbled across an Italian Communist Party rally...we stayed to take a few shots and then decided it'd probably be wise to move on! From there we just walked and walked some more and lo an behold, came across the Spanish steps on a sunny day! Could not believe how many people were there on a sunny day!!! We wound our way through the Roman streets and found the Hotel Madison, which we're staying at at the end of our trip, right across from the train station! Just got back to the room and took off my necklace and realized I got a sunburn around it too! I'm so smart, brilliant in fact! Off to dinner shortly and then tomorrow it's Florence!

We Weren't Struck Down By Lightning!

Day two of Rome, fantastic! We found a little taverna for nutella filled croissants and cappucinos - soooo good! It's a good thing we do a lot of walking on vacation! Then we caught the train to SanPietro station to visit Vatican City. Once inside the walls we saw the swarm of people, the lineups were massive - a little worrisome until a lady approached us about joining a guided tour. I was a little skeptical but we took a chance and were pleasantly surprised. She brought us across the piazza to a guy who was chatting with two other tourists. His name was Lewis and he was Scottish, no heavy brogue though so it was great. I swear this guy must just read about the Vatican, the Roman artists, history, culture - he was truly a walking encyclopedia! We toured for about 3.5 hours and finished the day with a little jaunt up to see the dome of the Vatican - 700-ish steps. Bruce said his ass was gonna look amazing after that feat! Yup, said it out loud for everyone to hear...gotta love him! I'm proud to say even though he stepped foot inside the Vatican, nothing happened, nothing. Whew!
After the Vatican, we made our way to the Spanish steps where we experienced a Roman downpour! During sunny days, there are vendors trying to sell tripods and during the rainy days they all switch to umbrellas! We had bought one at the little grocery store by our hotel...shoulda grabbed one from a guy cuz they were cheaper! Sigh. After the steps we found the Trevi Fountain and luckily the rain stopped for that! We stopped at a little restaurant for some pasta and wine and made our way back home. Trying to get to bed a little earlier because we got tickets to see the Pope tomorrow! Should be awesome!

Italia!

Our first full day in Italy! So tired. We left the hotel at 8:30 this morning and it's just after 10 pm and we just got in! Not a whole lot of sitting except for the first little while this morning when we took the 'Hop On Hop Off' bus! We were checking in yesterday and a lady came up to me to let me know that they were leaving this morning and she gave me their bus tour tickets because they were good for 24 hours...so we used them up! Sally, you were so right - we totally got our bearings and got some great shots to boot! I still have to download some photos but I'm sure Bruce will stay up late uploading his so keep an eye out for Facebook! I think it's time for a glass of wine before I head off to bed. We bought a bottle yesterday for about $5!!! Ciao!

Yawn...

Have I been sleeping?! I noticed it's almost been a month since my last blog post. Has nothing happened in my life in the past month?! On the contrary...I've been run off my feet in the past month! Good God! I don't know what's going on but I have been swamped at work and at night, what do I do? More work usually! I'm trying to keep up but it's starting to pile up and Bruce and I have nine more sleeps before we leave for Italy for three weeks!

There's been lots of cool things that have happened throughout my days in the past month, but having a mind like a sieve isn't going to help me share them with you. The feelings that those cool things left me with still linger but I can't recall any details, sorry.

You know how sometimes you seek the universe for answers to what seems an impossible problem to solve? You spend hours, days, weeks even months trying to figure out what the best move to make is, what the right choice is, just trying to get clarity on a situation. Then one day life just throws what you need to know right in your face! Just like that. It's almost like God has given you a deadline to figure something out and if you haven't done it in that time, He's just gonna tell you what you need to do. You have to love how life takes care of you...my lesson in all of this is you need to relax and trust that everything is the way it should be until it changes. I know, it's a very deep thought but I dare you to think about it for a few minutes!