Forget the Strip-O-Gram

I'm officially 27 years old.

It's an odd age I would say. You're in your late twenties (ugh, that's hard to swallow sometimes). 25 was a great age. 30 seems so old...yet so close. Thirty isn't really old, it's just that knowing where I am in my life right now and thinking that 30 is three years away is slightly scary. I'm feeling like I'm in limbo. I think when I get back from NZ, I'll have a better idea of what I want to do and where I want to be, and perhaps I'll feel more prepared to plant my feet. Maybe then 30 won't appear to be so intimidating.

My birthday was nice. Many people found ways to make it special. Facebook has a way of making you feel pretty darn special on your birthday with the mass amount of shout outs. A slew of special shout outs came from Deluxe & Decode - which is really nice. Emails and phone calls from family was really great. I really feel blessed to have my family and friends. My grandparents, my parents and my brother - were all on my mind.

Two special shout outs go to two special boys in my life. :) My Brent and my co-worker, who we shall call Sir Hops-a-Lot*.

*Sir Hops-a-Lot had his name changed to conceal his identity (as per his request).

So my buddy Sir Hops-a-Lot, started my work day off on the right foot. Actually, I think he leapt out on his left foot. As I made my way up to the third floor of the school, where our offices are, I was greeted by my co-worker leaping out of his office to do a birthday jig for my enjoyment. All the while, singing happy birthday to me. This happening at 8.00am. Oh - and did I forget to mention he was wearing his birthday suit - to commemorate my special day.

Don't worry, he was cupping himself. :p

And to Brent. Who ubber decorated my apartment in wicked streamers, balloons, banners and dollarama popping confetti (coolest things EVER!!!). But did it in such a wonderful way...it was really nicely decorated. All to make me feel uber special on my special day. And it was so much appreciated and really unexpected.

AND - he baked me a birthday cake. Which we have since agreed is a bad idea when there is only one person living with said cake. I've had cake for breakfast twice since my birthday. But is is SOOOO GOOD. It is a double layer marble cake with chocolate icing and he wrote a birthday wish ontop of the cake with red gel. The wonderful surprise's only flaw...the sparkly-glittery candles used atop that shed glittery-ness onto the cake.

I can't explain it - i just don't like sparkles. They never go away.

But THANK YOU Brent. I really did love every minute I was able to enjoy with you.

And to my parents for the lovely presents and phone calls. :)

I can now get orthotics. Yay. AND - i can buy a special knee brace now too!!! Happy Birthday indeed!! :)

RAPTORS

We went to a Raptors game on Monday Dec. 3rd. It felt like we had just been at the ACC recently. My brother was quick to remind me that it had been since February. Where did the year go???

We won. The game was against Charlotte. And yet, the crowd still booed. Cause we scored 98 points - and you need 100 for free pizza. It just sucked cause the last player to have the ball in his hands, ran the clock down by just dribbling the ball. One more basket - that's all we wanted. :)

It was nice to be back watching the game. Although, there was an incredibly distracting young individual in front of us. She was the epitome of 90's wigger. A 13 year old who was trying to be a gangster and at a moment's notice would break out into the 'chair dance moves'. Simply distracting.

Season's Change. Break out the hand cream.

Winter is here! I love it. I really SHOULD HAVE gone toboganning for my birthday. Every year I wish it would snow so that I could use my crazy carpet on my bday...and this year was the first time in forever that I've been able to. And...I didn't go. Cause I fell asleep instead (i've been tired lately).

Anyway - winter is here - and it's wonderful and frustrating all at the same time. I love winter. Snowboarding season might be really good this year. It will hopefully be a white Christmas this year - not Easter. I love the smell in the air, so crisp, and the way your footsteps sound as they crunch through the snow.

What I don't love - is my eczema flairing up (earlier than normal this year - and worse) AND the city of Toronto. It's like they are allergic to snow plow budgets or something. The mayor of this city is out to destroy us. When will this city ever accept that we live in Canada - and not only that - but we live at a certain lattitude of north america - which means we have four seasons - one of which being winter. And with winter conditions - comes winter driving. With winter driving, one should hope comes salting and plowing. Not for Toronto.

This is a whole discussion on its own. But basically, our city is trying to save money - and doing it by cutting the dumbest things. Like timely plowing. Or plowing at all. There is discussion to no longer plow side streets (which is most of Toronto) to save money. It's bad enough that the residents of this city shovel their driveways onto the streets making it harder to drive through, but to remove all potential for a reasonable drive is ridiculous. They think it would mean less people would drive to work. Well, what about thos who need their cars to do their work???

I can't wait to leave this city and contribute my tax money into another city that might actually do something better with it.

Ack.

Then comes the fate of the snowman built in a city living the teeter-totter winter. I keep driving by this one snowman that has seen the effects of the warming/cooling cycle of our 'winter' so far. His belly had begun to melt at some point, and he is now beginning to slump over, almost exasperated by his imminent death. It's quite sad. :(

Christmas songs have a different meaning to me. I've been listening to Third Day's Christmas Offerings this week - and two songs have really stood out to me. "Do you hear what I hear?" and "O Holy Night".

Christmas has a very special feeling to it. It would appear that people are in a warmer mood and seem to have more love in their hearts. That is more often than not, hidden by the rampageous crowd mentality that Christmas shopping in a big city can bring out. This is a very unfortunate part of the commercialization of the holiday.

When you listen to true Christmas carols, you can really hear what the holiday is about. It is about the birth of Christ and the beginning of hope to mankind. For on that night a son was born - to save us from ourselves and deliver us from sin and its hold on us. The best Christmas gift we could ever receive, and most of us will never really understand its truth.

Listening to these two songs in particular really struck me this week - because it's like we forget that this is a gift to celebrate every single day. I can't believe that God would actually give up his one and only Son for us - to save us - to show us a deeper love than we could every comprehend. It's completely mind blowing if you actually take a moment to think about it.

And Christmas will find its true meaning.

The path we all follow...

Remembering your past. I had the girls (minus Sarah who was in Victoria recently) over on Tuesday night for an evening potluck. One of the things that came up in conversation was the whole idea of "running into your past". Like - bumping into people from your past - and what feelings that might instill in your heart. Like how some songs can really help bring you back to a certain point in your life. As you get older - it's really interesting to see how you remember your past and who/what moments pop up on your head. I find the 'who pops up in your head' most interesting - a past friend, an old relationship...and what does it mean. It shows a lot of your growth. What you want now versus what you didn't know back then. I think when you look at these moments in your life it really helps you appreciate all the "living" you have come to do in our short time on this planet. This is a difficult 'thought' to put down into words. My mind is still wrapping itself around past moments that have been popping up - and it's been a really great period of growth. :)

I can't believe I've been in this city for over eight years now.

We shopped at Vaughan Mills last weekend. I must say - Purdy's hazelnut hedgehogs are yummy!! Shop before noon - or you will regret the day you stepped foot inside that mall.

And OMG - the Walmart superstore on Eglinton - is NOW open 24 HOURS to 'serve you better for your Christmas shopping'. What is WRONG with us????

1 week countdown to my major hair cut. ack. Enjoy the length while I still got it - I might not see it again for a few years (strange!!) I hope it goes well. Cause i don't plan on having long hair for NZ. I think as long as I go all the way with the length, i'll love it! This is a big step for me.

NZ feels soooooo close. For Xmas, we aren't buying each other gifts. Instead, we're going on a NZ shopping spree. I've been blessed with financial provision to buy a GPS unit (hopefully with an awesome boxing day sale), our tent and hopefully gortex pants. Wow. this adventure can't come soon enough. I can't imagine how it will feel to wake up every morning in the mountains of NZ. Every single morning. I am sooo blessed.

I'm 7 months and 19 days away!!

To new adventures in my 27th year...

(Photo of the American Falls at night from Niagara Falls, On July 28th, 2007)