Ten on Tuesday

#117 at Roots and Rings

1. What did you do this weekend?
Friday night, my sister and I went to a game night at my friend’s house. Saturday night consisted of a double feature (The Help and Friends With Benefits). Sunday consisted of cleaning, prepping crockpot meals for the freezer and making homemade French bread.

2. Do you prefer short fingernails or long fingernails?
In between. I have a bad habit of biting my nails though, so my nails are usually on the shorter side.

3. What is your favorite use for Pinterest?
Looking for recipes and crafts. I’ve made plenty of both from the site!

4. Do you sleep with your mouth open?
I think about half the time. It’s not exactly something I can control once I’m asleep!

5. Where did you have the best pizza you’ve ever eaten?
I’ve never really had truly memorable pizza. I do love making homemade pizza though!

6. What do you eat for breakfast on weekdays?
Usually cereal or a bagel.

7. Do you watch awards shows? Why or why not?
Nope; I find them boring. I also hate when Twitter gets overrun by awards show tweets. I’m so thankful that Echofon has a mute function!

8. Can you whistle? Snap? Curl your tongue? Bend down and touch your palms to the ground?
I can whistle, snap and curl my tongue. I can’t bend down and touch my palms to the ground though!

9. What email service do you use?
Gmail.  I still have my hotmail account, but never log into it. I keep it around for MSN messenger, but I don’t even use that anymore.

10. What is your favorite outdoor activity?
Just about anything! Walking, hiking, picnics…I just love being outdoors.

On Friendship

I was just making my way through my Google Reader when I came across this post (Friendship Truths) by Amy at Just a Titch. The paragraph she wrote about Three Strikes. She tries to make plans three times with new friends, and if they deny her three times, she’ll move on. I think that sounds like a great idea, but what do you do when it’s your old friends that are turning you down consistently?

I’ve been having this problem lately, with two friends in particular. We’ll make plans, and they’ll consistently flake on me. The worst is when they flake on me at the last minute, after I’ve already put all other plans aside and I’ve made the time for them. This just happened this past weekend, and I’m kind of getting tired of it. It’s harder because these girls are friends from high school, meaning we’ve known each other for nearly ten years. I’m kind of getting tired of this happening, and if I followed Amy’s three strike rule, that would mean it’s time for me to move on. Stephen insists that I speak up and say something to them, but I feel like doing so will start some sort of drama, and I’m just not that kind of person.

Not that my solution is any better, I’ve just stopped trying to make plans with them. If they make plans and invite me along, I’ll come, but I won’t go out of my way to make plans with them anymore. The disappointment that comes from them cancelling every single time is too much. To be honest, I feel like this is a high school type of problem, and I figured that at the age of 26, I wouldn’t be dealing with silly things like this anymore.

Now, to get to the point of me writing this post; I’d like to ask for your advice. If you were in this situation, what would you do? Would you speak up and risk upsetting your friends? (One of them in particular is overly sensitive.)

Ten on Tuesday

#116 at Roots and Rings

0.01×10^2. What was your best/worst day in math class?
I swear that math is my arch nemesis, so pretty much every day was a bad day. I can't even name my best day.

20×10^-1. Who was your favorite/least favorite math teacher? Why?
I've never had a math teacher that I didn't like, but my favorite would have to be my tenth and eleventh grade teacher Ms. Dressler. She made math bearable!

3×10^0. Is it okay to be bad at math if English is more your thing?
Yes, provided you at least gave math your best shot. I'm definitely more of an arts/languages type person, so I would definitely agree with this statement.

0.4×10^1. How does this video make you feel?
It's a joke, right? As much as I can't stand math, I realize the importance of it.

500×10^-2. What do you like/not like about math?
I hate everything about it. Anything involving numbers is the bane of my existence.

0.006×10^3. What makes someone a nerd?
I think I get nerds and geeks mixed up all the time, so I'm not sure I know the answer to this question.

7×10^0. Who is the nerdiest person you know?
None of my friends are truly nerdy, but I tease Stephen occasionally for being a nerd.

80×10^-1. What is the nerdiest thing you’ve ever done?
I once contemplated joining the science Olympics team in junior high. I even went to one meeting, but realized it wasn't for me.

0.9×10^1. Do you think GraphJam is funny?
I've never heard about it until now, but I do find it funny.

10×10^1. Have you ever used math outside of school?
Of course. Not the more advanced math we learned later in my school years, but I use basic math all the time.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 67)

1. I can’t believe it’s already Friday again. For the past few weeks, I’ve been working so hard that time has just flown by. Within a two week period, I managed to work 109 hours. I also managed to pick up a nasty cold along the way, which means I haven’t been taking very good care of myself.

2. Thankfully, I have today off.  My regular Friday family is in Mexico, and my other nanny family didn’t need me today. I got a whole 12 hours of sleep; I can’t even tell you the last time that happened! I also get Monday off, because it’s Family Day here in Alberta. 4 whole days off sounds absolutely amazing to me.

3. Speaking of the weekend, want to know my plans? I was offered an awesome opportunity to go get photos taken at a new photography studio here in Calgary (in exchange for writing about it on my blog). Stephen and I have very few photos together (since I’m usually the one taking the pictures), so I jumped on this opportunity, and I’m dragging him along with me.

4. Later that night, we’ll be meeting up with some friends for coffee and dessert. We were supposed to go to a lacrosse game, but some poor planning hindered that opportunity. I don’t care what we do though, I’ll be happy just getting out of the house and spending time with some of my favorite people!

5. Valentine’s Day was this week, and of course I need to mention what Stephen did for me. We’ve never been the type of couple to really celebrate Valentine’s Day. With it being so close to my birthday, and with Stephen usually working late that day, it’s never been our holiday. This year though, I bought Stephen a couple of little chocolates and left them for him to find when he woke up. Of course he had to go and outdo me though. What I didn’t know is that he had planned to take the day off work, so that he could go out and buy the bench that I wanted for our front hallway. Since the one I wanted wasn’t in stock (it was a bench with storage), he grabbed another one, and bought a little chest to stick underneath for storage. What I didn’t realize is that he had stuck some roses and chocolate in there! This was completely unexpected, especially after the surprise he pulled off for my birthday not so long ago. He said that he also really wanted me to have the bench that I wanted!

6. We also went to the movies that night. Our original plan was to join my sister and her boyfriend to see The Vow, but of course, it was sold out. We ended up seeing Contraband, which I happened to really like anyway. I’ve been absolutely spoiled this month, and it turns out, Stephen’s already planning something for our anniversary next month. He’s not normally the kind of guy to go all out for every single holiday/special occasion. I don’t know what’s gotten into him, but I sure do love it!

7. I’ve been mentioning this furniture that Stephen bought me for my birthday. My Mom has been begging me for pictures of it, which I plan on taking at some point today. I think I’ll share them here next week.

Hopefully you have an amazing weekend! What do you have planned?

Ten on Tuesday

#115 at Roots and Rings

1. How do you feel about Valentine’s Day?
I love it. Even when I was single, I was never bitter about Valentine's Day. I suppose I'm a real girly girl in the sense that I love hearts, pink and red.

2. Are you in love?
Very much so.

3. What is your favorite love song?
I don't really have one. Stephen and I don't even have a song like most couples seem to. That doesn't mean that I don't enjoy sappy lovey music.

4. Did your parents do anything for you on Valentine’s Day when you were a child?
Yes. They always left us little gifts of chocolate and a card, sometimes even a little gift like a stuffed animal, Valentine's socks, and even jewelry when we were older. Nothing expensive or over the top, but a little token to show us they love us.

5. What is your love language? (Click here if you want to take the quiz.)
I took this quiz ages ago, and found out my love language is touch. Makes sense, since I'm always touching Stephen in some way.

6. How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Gifts? Dinner?
We really don't do much, since my birthday is so close (it was on the 5th). Despite that, we'll still do something small, like cook a nice dinner, or Stephen will buy me flowers.

7. What is your favorite flower?
Lilies.

8. What is your favorite love story? (Book and/or movie.)
Maybe The Notebook. Despite the fact that I love to watch/read romantic movies and books, I don't really have a clear favorite. My problem is I just love too many things!

9. What is the most romantic thing someone has ever done for you? Or you have done for someone?
For our first date, Stephen made me a three course dinner. He set the table nicely and even lit some candles. It was perfect! He may not show it often, but he's a very romantic guy.

10. How did you meet your spouse/significant other?
We met online. Some friends were signed up on a dating website and decided that I needed to join them. They made me a profile, and within a week, Stephen had found me and was sending me messages.

February Photo a Day

Last year, I attempted to do the photo a day challenge, but failed miserably. I didn’t even complete a month! I didn’t think I wanted to try it again this year, but I found an app called Photo 365. I figured it would help me out if I used my phone to take my pictures (it’s always with me), and the app has a reminder function. I downloaded and started using it, but quickly found that some days, nothing photo worthy really happens. It was around this time that I started noticing the January Photo a Day challenge (started by Fat Mum Slim) floating around on Twitter. I didn’t really want to start part way through the month, so I decided to wait for February to start. Having this little list of inspiration has made a huge difference, and I haven’t missed taking a photo since I started on January 14th. I have missed two days of the February Photo a Day, but I just replaced them with other photos taken that day.

I won’t share every single picture I’ve taken since January 14th, but I thought I’d share my February photos. Depending on how well I keep up with this challenge (there should hopefully be a new list up every month), I’ll do a recap at the end of every month here on my blog!

Day 1: Taken on my walk back from the park with Baby E.

Day 2: One of my favorite onesies that E owns.

Day 3: Those chubby baby hands kill me. So adorable.

Day 4: This was a sneaky photo of a stranger. There was construction going on right outside my front door, so I sneakily took this picture from the door.

Day 5: Even though this day was my birthday, I was wrapping up a gift for someone else.

Day 6: I forgot to take a picture of my dinner, but added in a picture of Baby E. I can’t share it here though!

Day 7: A peek at my button collection.

Day 8: The view of the sun outside my front door.

Day 9: A crooked picture of my front door, which is on the right.

Day 10: A screenshot of the tweet that says it all.

Day 11: Baby E makes me really happy! He’s got the best giggle ever.

Day 12: Inside my messy closet.

Day 13: My kitchen is blue.

Are you participating in the February Photo a Day challenge? Have you ever done the 365 photo challenge? How did you do?

A Surprise Party

This past Sunday was my 26th birthday. If you remember this post, then you’ll remember that I was less than enthused about it. I had been trying to plan something with my friends and family, but they all kept turning me down, telling me that they would have to make it up to me later in the month. I eventually settled on having Stephen take me out to dinner, and a friend invited me over for lunch.

Lunch was really good. It was with one of my really good friends (who’s birthday is the day before mine) and her 2 year old twins. It was nice having that time out of the house. She drove me home after lunch, so that I could get my present from Stephen, then go out to dinner. Stephen met me out at the van, with a scarf that he used as a blindfold. He brought me in and surprised me with a desk and chair for the corner of our living room. I hadn’t picked one out, but wanted one because I felt our living room was incomplete. When I went to give him a hug, it was then that I noticed everyone else. Turns out, Stephen had planned me a little surprise party! Both of my sisters were there (with their boyfriends), my friend Izel as well as my other friend and her twins. All that time I spent sad that no one would hang out with me was just silly, they were all just trying to keep a secret from me!

{He even surprised me with a cake from my favorite cupcake bakery; complete with ridiculous pet name.}

Stephen then brought me upstairs to our bedroom for one last surprise: a new bedframe, two nightstands and a dresser! We’ve been needing a new bedroom set for ages, but I figured we would have to wait a few months yet for it. While I was out at lunch, Stephen was at home trying to build all of the furniture as quickly as possible. He didn’t get the dresser done in time, but it didn’t matter to me. I was just thrilled that Stephen took the time and effort to do this for me! Can you believe that he had been planning this since over Christmas vacation? I did notice some things out of the ordinary, like more texts than normal and some very strange phone calls, but I still didn’t suspect what he was actually doing. In the end, I had a fantastic birthday, surrounded by those who love me.

I want to share pictures of the snazzy new furniture we got, but I’m going to wait until I have time to finish setting things up fully. Has anyone ever thrown you a surprise party?

Ten on Tuesday

#114 at Roots and Rings

1. How do you feel about Groundhog’s Day?
I could care less about it either way. I do get a little bit curious halfway through the day, whether or not the groundhog saw its shadow.

2. What color are your fingernails right now? (Bonus points if you include a picture.)
I don’t paint my fingernails. I chip them so badly, that they never stay looking nice for more than a few hours. It’s not worth the hassle to me.

3. Do you like riddles?
If I can solve them, then I like them.

4. When you were 10, how old did you think “old” was? At your current age, how old do you think “old” is?
I don’t quite remember, but I’m sure I thought 40ish was old. Now, I think 90 is old.

5. Do you wish on stars?
I have to admit that I occasionally do. I’m cheesy like that.

6. Do you recycle?
Since the curbside recycling program was introduced, we’ve always lived in apartments/condos where there was no recycling. We finally live in a place where there is recycling pickup, but we haven’t gotten into  the groove of recycling. I blame it on the fact that we didn’t even have garbage keys for a month, so we had to store garbage in our garage. With the move and Christmas, that produced a ton of garbage, so we’re still trying to take it out. I think that once we finally get our garage cleared of garbage (it’s mostly boxes, nothing that smells), we’ll get the recycling situation sorted out.

7. On a scale from 1-10, how good of a cook are you?
I’m going to say 6. I’ve come a long way since moving out a few years ago, but I still have a lot to learn.

8. Do you color your hair? Professionally or at home?
I don’t color my hair. I have dyed it, I think twice, but I never kept up with it.

9. One a scale from 1-10, how do you rate your manners?
Probably a 7. I’m sure I could be a lot better.

10. Who are the last 5 people you have texted?
a)Stephen
b)My sister Jessica
c)Sharon
d)My boss’ friend (she was looking for babysitting)
e)George