I Told 'Em It Was My Birthday Just To Hear The Waiters Sing Off-key

There's something about my birthday that makes me blue. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm another year closer to thirty or if it's the buildup to the Festival of Hillary and consequent letdown. Or maybe it's the fact that the pitch-black mornings and non-stop rain have made the end of summer undeniable. Whatever it is, it makes me want to stay in bed all day and forgo showering and eating and you know, living. I want to melt into my sheets and become one with my flannel pyjamas. If it wasn't for good friends and pumpkin pie and a husband who gave me a macbook(!), I probably would have shriveled up into a ball of self-pity. Actually, I kind of did throw a pity party for myself (oh, and PS to Ben: that song is one of my favourites too. I can't figure out how to listen to it without first listening to the track it's hidden behind - have you?)

I had a fabulous birthday. Shawn surprised me with a macbook (her name is Ambrosia and she is lovely.) My family celebrated Thanksgiving and my birthday together like we do every year (I get pumpkin pie instead of birthday cake, which works out well because I would like to marry pumpkin pie.) Bow put chocolate eyeballs behind her glasses to cheer me up. She's thoughtful like that. We made her stay that way while we took about 30 photos. The chocolates melted. I laughed so hard that I cried.


My mom tried to get Stella to cuddle her, to no avail.

I love this photo because a: Stella looks like she is about to lose her shit and b: it looks like Stella is wearing giant slippers

Stella is a one-lady kind of pup.

The next night, Robin made a fabulous spread of munchies and we watched the Canucks beat Calgary.

my hair, not being weather-girl flippy! but not being as cute as Robin's hair

Cat couldn't make it out last weekend so we celebrated our birthdays (hers is the day after mine) this past weekend. We started off on a party bus.

The party bus had a pole. It should be noted that I was shit-faced drunk before I actually touched the pole. It was slimy. The interior of the party bus was "very hoseable" as someone so aptly put it.

not inebriated at all, no siree

After drinking cheap vodka from plastic bottles (which wasn't the brightest idea, Maxie you know what I'm talking about) we headed to Section(3) for drinks. I ordered my drink based solely on its name "The Donkey." I don't even know what it tasted like (taste buds burnt off due to cheap vodka.)

birthday girls!

From there we headed to the Hamilton Street Grill. I hadn't been before but I will definitely go back. The service was fabulous and the food was amazing.

crispy beef tenderloin salad

sablefish and wild mushroom risotto

lemon creme brule (my new boyfriend)

So Festival of Hillary is officially over, eight days after my actual birthday. I was going to try to stretch the celebrations out until the end of the month but I can tell that Shawn is getting pretty sick of hearing "but it's my birthday!" whenever he tells me it's my turn to wash the dishes. He threatened to kidnap Ambrosia if he hears it one more time so I guess I'll stop, if only to save my macbook from his evil clutches.

It's A Jam For The Ladies And The Superstars

Remember last week when I was all "we are going to work Stella's ass off this week with the puppy school homework and next week she is going to be the puppy school star"? Well. Tonight we have puppy school. Have we worked on the puppy school homework yet? Not so much. (And by "not so much" I mean not at all.) Clearly tonight is not going to go as well as we'd hoped. Our plan of attack is to exhaust Stella at the dog park before class.

Also last week, I wrote about Westy's team being up 2-0 in their playoff series. I didn't want to make any predictions, lest I jinx it again. I'm happy to report that they pulled off a 4-0 sweep of Westside and have moved onto the finals. Games 1 & 2 will be played on Friday and Saturday in Penticton. I'm being a bad sister and not driving up to watch - the soul-sucking English course is kind of kicking my ass right now and I need to complete it. I write the exam in a month and then I can forget it ever existed.

We're coming up on the 4-month mark in the countdown to the wedding. I am less stressy this month than last month. Last month I was suffering from a touch of Crazy. We haven't accomplished much in the last month but I'm surprisingly okay with it. I'm not sure if it's me being zen or me being in denial. Either way I'm happy to not be hyperventilating about the wedding (anymore.)

I was having a lot of angst over our wedding favours. I like the idea of giving each guest a token of our appreciation. I don't like the idea of buying a bunch of crap in bulk and having 100 coasters (or keychains or candles, etc.) left over at the end of the night. I wanted the tokens to be something consumable but with more thought involved than chocolates (not that there's anything wrong with chocolates - I just wanted the favours to be homemade and there's no way I'd be able to make chocolates. Also, the wedding is in August and I'm pretty sure if we had chocolate favours they'd melt.) So after much deliberation with Turtle (who has been beyond patient with me through this wedding planning process - lady, you rock!) I decided on jam. We're going to make small pots of jam for each guest to take home. I love this idea for a couple of reasons. First of all, Turtle and Bow have both already volunteered their jam-making skills. Secondly, we can make the jam well in advance and keep it in my mom's pantry (this is assuming I can get myself organized.) Thirdly, we can make cheesy labels that say "Thanks for Jamming with us!" (S is a musician and a lot of his friends are musicians so a portion of the reception will be all the musicians jamming on stage.)

So does anyone have any fabulous jam recipes they'd like to share? I've been searching online but haven't found anything that really jumped out at me. Most of the recipes I've found have flavoured gelatin in them (I'm assuming they mean Jello.) I'd prefer recipes that are just fruit, sugar and pectin (and I think lemon juice is a key jam ingredient but I'm not sure.) I've only ever made freezer jam before; this is my first foray into the canning world. I really hope I don't give all the guests botulism.

But How Do You Plan For a Bank Full of Nuns?

My baby sister, Bow, works at a bank. Last week her bank was robbed. At gunpoint (who has guns? in the suburbs?) My little sister is the most timid, non-confrontational person you could imagine. She is quiet and shy and gentle. Her husband (okay so I said she's my baby sister but she's actually 21) is out of town this weekend so she's moved back in with my parents. My sweet little sister is too afraid to be in her own house.

I can't imagine being too afraid to do my job. I've been too tired to do my job. Too annoyed, too frustrated, too sick. Never too afraid.

I feel so indignant. How dare someone come in to her place of work and take what's not his? Not the money - who cares about the money - but her sense of security. Her peace of mind. Her confidence. I am livid for Bow.

I also feel conflicted. I can't help but feel pity for someone who is so desperate that they have to rob a bank. I'm finding Christmas a bit of a financial strain this year and I have a job that pays me well. I can't imagine being unemployed at this time of year. It wouldn't drive me to rob a bank though.