In This House No One Goes To Sleep For Days It's Like We're Working On A Mountainside Trying Not To Slide Into The Ocean

Oh look! Another photo of my dog!

In this picture Stella is trying to use the power of her mind to get Shawn's hamburger into her belly.

It only kind of worked a little. (Dear Shawn, the dogs beg because you feed them when they do cute shit like rest their heads on your knees while you eat. Seriously. Stop it. Love Hillary)

Oh hey, so I guess I don't really need to point this out but I'm still punchy. Like, really punchy. Like perhaps I should actually do some punching so that I stop shooting lasers out of my eyes and speaking in my bitey voice. I had big plans to become a runner last night so I could run out my stress, but then it rained and got all windy so I ate some ice cream instead. It seemed like a good plan at the time.

My new plan is to banish my bad mood with a long weekend of selfishness. Shawn is going on a boys'-only-road- trip from Friday morning until Monday afternoon and I am really looking forward to having some alone time. I love my husband and I love spending time with him blah blah blah I am going to sleep diagonally across the bed and eat ice cream for dinner without his judgey eyes. This weekend will include a lot of mac & cheese and puppy cuddles and Law & Order reruns and I don't even care that every single person I know (including my parents, who never go anywhere) is heading out of town for the long weekend. I am going to staycation my ass off (because I am a douche who says "staycation" punch punch punch.)

What If I Just Flip Flopped? Down Is The New Up

Friday Faff: Confessions

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I bought $42 face moisturizer.

I tend to be casual about my appearance (I go months without a haircut, pulling my hair back into a ponytail to hide the split ends; I forgo wearing makeup to work if it means ten more minutes of sleep; I wear yoga pants - often - even though I do not do yoga) but the one thing I am vain about is my skin. I've noticed a lot of dryness in my skin lately. Horrible, flaky dryness. I know I should rehydrate my skin from the inside out but I drink a lot of water and nothing changes. So I bought $42 face moisturizer. I'm not sure how I feel about being someone who spends $42 on moisturizer. The Clinique lady promised that the moisturizer wouldn't spoil for 2 years so really it's like I am spending $21 a year on face cream. That's less than $2 a month. Still. $42 is almost half of my monthly transit pass.

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I rode the motorcycle.

I know. I KNOW! Only five months ago I was all ranty ranty about the motorcycle. After the initial rage and fretting cooled down, though, I was left with curiosity. I wanted to experience what all the fuss was about; I wanted to see why he loved the motorcycle so much. Then last Monday, Shawn picked me up from work. He thought he was being wily, offering to pick me up from work knowing that I would assume he'd be driving the car, then showing up on his motorcycle with a brand new helmet for me to wear. We rode home and I felt what he feels on the bike. I now understand why it appeals to him. I'm not a fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel less anxious about the situation. I'm not sure that I'll ever get back on the bike but I'm not ruling it out either.

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Day 19 of my month of photos:


The Vancouver Art Gallery (or VAG. Seriously.)
Vancouver is experiencing beautiful weather right now. The sun is shining, the sky is clear (and blue! as in, not grey! in February!) and the cherry blossoms are blooming.

An Old Piece Of Bacon Never Eaten By Elvis

The mornings have been dark lately, making the blinds on our windows unnecessary. Unnecessary, that is, until a random sunny October day filled our bedroom with sunshine at 8am. What does one do when awake at such an early hour on a Sunday? Brunch. Nothing cures a painfully early awakening like all-you-can eat bacon and hot chocolate.

Shawn wanted to ride his bike so I followed in the car and it was ... okay (apart from one road-ragey incident where a massive pick-up truck cut me off and proceeded to tailgate my husband, which made my heart skip a little.)

So here I am, waffling back and forth between hating the idea of Shawn on the motorcycle and being okay with the situation. Yes, watching him ride on the highway with nothing between him and the passing cars but a jacket made my head melt a little. But seeing how happy it made him (his eyes practically fucking twinkled when he took his helmet off) made me feel a bit guilty for wanting him to give it up. I am reserving the right to fret but have decided to make more of an effort to be less shrill about the motorcycle. So much so that I took the bike out for a spin.

What? Don't you ride your motorcycle in a sundress and ballet flats?

Right, so I didn't actually ride the bike; I just sat on it. I'm not sure that I'll ever ride the bike, though I'm not ruling it out. This is progress. Just give me, oh, five years and maybe I'll be ready to put the helmet on.

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Vancouver bloggers: Tomorrow at 8pm, Kristin from better now and Kate from sweetsalty (two ladies who make my stomach churn with their awesomeness) are having a shindig at Steamworks (Gastown location.) I'm going to be there; come say hello and put me out of my socially awkward misery!

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In other bloggy news, Amanda could use some votes to win a kitchen update and Jane has some happy news!

If My Team Loses I'll Be Mean All Night If You Tell Me To Relax We'll Get In A Fight

I promise I will stop bitching about Shawn's motorcycle ... soon. I'm sure we'll find our way to a compromise. For now, though, we're stuck in knowing that our own position is completely valid and reasonable, and knowing that each other's position is just as valid and reasonable, and not knowing where to go from there. Thank you for your comments on yesterday's post; it is helpful for me to hear that people can die from boring, everyday-type activities and not just risky activities. I tend to forget that in all my fretting about reckless drivers.

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Tonight is the Canucks season opener and words cannot express my excitement. I'll be watching the game at the 2 Parrots (which provides a prime hockey-viewing environment.) Puck drops in 6 hours. Gongshow to promptly follow.

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To round out this post of randomness, I want to know what brand / type of mascara you wear. I am in the market for a new supermarket (read: cheap-ish) mascara and am overwhelmed by all the choices. The last one I tried was Covergirl Lash Blast and I found it very clumpy.

Just Shots Of Light And Broken Bike To Stimulate Your Busy Head

I was fretting about the motorcycle to a very wise lady yesterday and she told me that I am only making myself feel bad and that I should trust the universe. Which is a very simple concept, right? I mean, I can fret and worry and work myself into a tizzy, but at the end of the day, what's going to happen is going to happen. Zen people tend to freak me the fuck out so it was a bit odd that I was so accepting of her attitude. But I'm trying. I will try to trust the universe. I will try to trust Shawn. He has been as supportive of my crazy as he can be, without agreeing to give up the motorcycle (which, let's face it, is the only thing that will make the crazy disappear) so I will try to be supportive of his stupidity. (Hey, I said I'm trying.)

Instead of focusing on the things that are making me blue, I'm trying to focus on the things that make me happy. You know what makes me happy? Bullet points!

- How I Met Your Mother. I love this show. I love that Shawn loves this show. Our taste in television differs widely so I'm very glad to have found a show that we both enjoy. Last night's episode was hilarious. Tuxedo night? Classic.

- Road trips. In two weeks, Shawn and I will be embarking on a road trip with another couple. We are going to drive from Vancouver to Magic Mountain in California. The details are a little fuzzy right now but I have been promised a drive through the redwoods and at least half a day in San Francisco. So, Californians: is there anything we need to do, any restaurants we need to eat at (we're talking burgers and tacos here, nothing fancy), anything we'll be kicking ourselves if we miss? This road trip will be quick and dirty. We leave Wednesday night and have to be back by Monday night.

- Puppies. Stella will be finished her medication tonight and by tomorrow she will (hopefully) be back to normal. She has been so lethargic and grumpy while on this medication but it does seem to be helping her ear. I'm going to be very happy to not have a drugged-up puppy tomorrow.

What's making you happy today?