Starting my story on Saturday, I started out with a bike ride. If you’re checking my twitter feed, you’ll have seen that it took just over an hour to move my butt from home to half way to work and back. Once I got back home again, had myself a shower and then jumped into my jeans, boots, a v-neck tee, and a lightweight hoodie. Once dressed, I was off to the Chinook Centre to give my friend Michelle a Tiffany birthday gift.

Once done chatting with Michelle, Eric and I were off to the Chinook c-train station to make our way up to Calgary Stampede. A friend from work went with Eric and I so that she could show us around the fairgrounds and tell us where to go and where not to. For those of you reading this and have not been to CS, it’s basically like a gigantic, much improved version of the CLE. Only with a western theme. Major western theme… but what do you expect when the city it’s taking place in decides to make it’s major auditorium in the shape of a saddle. Hence it’s name the Saddledome.

Needless to say, we went through the BMO building as recommended after having a Budweiser upon entry. It turned out to be a stinking hot day and I pretty much sweated my body weight for the majority of it. But I digress – after having a quick drink we went to find something to eat – I grabbed a sausage and Eric had a cheeseburger and we ended up sharing a Coke. After the BMO buliding, we ended up going and grabbing slushies – I chose Coke flavoured – which turned out to be an awesomely tasty, cold and all around brilliant choice of Eric’s.

With slushies in hand we made our way to the Bell stage where we watched stunt bikers do some jumps, followed by a trampo-wall act. If the name doesn’t say it all well – basically it was three people bouncing on a trampoline and doing tricks of a wall. Yup. So I went and grabbed a bratwurst with sauerkraut and another coke to get through the show without going hungry

After that it was time for me to meet up with Sandy and Michelle at the Saddledome. Michelle was a bit late coming from dinner with friends so I stuck around for a bit but didn’t want to be too terribly late, so I ended up heading in without her. Sandy had already found her seat and I went and joined her. About ten minutes later, and just before DJ Skeet Skeet was done his little bit, Michelle arrived. We ended up grabbing a beer and chatting in the lobby before running out to catch our seats as the Katy Perry show began.

All I’m going to say is that the show was amazing – and knowing the kind of show she puts on now, I would gladly have spent more on the tickets than I did.

Once Katy Perry was done and she had sprayed the audience with whipped cream and glitter, the three amigos left the building with the task of finding me a cowboy hat. It had been decided earlier that I couldn’t leave stampede without one – and so we made our way back to the BMO building because they had hats galore for only $20 and the building happened to be air conditioned.

Well, lucky for us, it was super busy and once we actually got to the BMO building, we realized it was closed. So we got to trek all the way back to what seemed the other side of the fairgrounds to get to the Lammle’s Western Wear tent just in time for the skies to open up and pour down a fury of rain.

I managed to find myself a hat that I didn’t look to ridiculously stupid in, and by the time I checked out the rain had stopped outside. We were off again and this time in search of a washroom. Again we seemed to trek to the other side of the fairgrounds to get into the casino. I’ll give credit to Sandy on this one because they were clean and had no line ups seeing as they weren’t easily accessible to the thousands of people walking through the fairgrounds. After making out pit stops, Michelle went and gambled $5 and left her ten cents in winnings on the slot machine before moving on for more food.

First we went and got mini donuts, followed by a donair for Sandy, and then it was off to get poutine and a coke zero for me and a poutine for Michelle as well. The time by this last meal of the day was 1AM – but we were damn happy with our food choice at the time. After we talked about work and wolfed down our food, we were off to the train station to go home.

As Eric had kindly said he would pick me up if I so desired, I texted him and he met me at the Bridlewood station. I could tell that I was sunburnt even at nearly two in the morning, but was just happy to be getting close to home. Once back at the condo, I pretty much flopped into bed and passed out. One hell of an exhausting day.

Then Sunday reared it’s ugly, sunny head through the curtains this morning. I just wanted to sleep all day, but apparently that wasn’t in the cards. Eric had already gotten off to work by the time I woke up, and after rolling out of bed myself, realized by legs were (and still are) very sore from all my shenanigans.

Nevertheless, I ended up getting up and going to the Farmers Market with the intention of getting some fruit or pastries from Yum Bakery. Seeing the really poor selection was a little sad, but I can’t really say unexpected as it is a Sunday and it has been picked over for the last three days.

After finding nothing I wanted at the Market, I headed downtown to join Eric for some lunch. He had his little noodle bowl by the time I made it to the Core, and we ended up just walking down to the Bay so that I could pick us up some facial wash. Once done, we strolled back down Stephen Ave. and back to his store.

I ended up going to Harry Rosen to look at some dress shirts, and I believe that I have finally found the shirt that I might be wearing to the wedding. I’m going to go and visit the sales rep at the Chinook store and see if I can’t swing him some commission though since the one that I usually deal with is apparently no longer working for them.

After Harry Rosen I went back home after swinging by Sobeys to pick up a bunch of fresh fruit. And since being home, all I’ve really done is let my body rest by taking a good long nap, watched some tv and am now off to bed at only 1AM.

But first I’ll be moisturizing up with some new after sun lotion I got from Shoppers Drug Mart while downtown. Hopefully I wont look too horribly cooked lobster red in the morning for work. Cross your fingers for me!

Apparently, I left some minor things out in my last post that weren’t really all that minor…

So far since getting my bike, I’ve managed to go back and forth from work on it (yes, my suit was in my backpack) I think it’s three times now, and my inaugural bike ride was a whopping three hours long. I’m extremely happy to have a bike again. Everyone at work was suprised that my suit didn’t look all wrinkled up once I had changed out of my biking gear. I just explained that you can’t just roll it up and throw it in is all.

Speaking of work, I was one of a few chosen to be an ambassador for Tiffany & Co., and attend a fundraiser for Dream Take Flight (more information on the http://dreamstakeflight.org/ website). Although it was for an extremely worthwhile cause, the event itself did not seem overly well thought out. I will only harp on it slightly because I can’t fault them for it, but it was extremely hot, loud, and crowded in the room it took place in downtown at the Westin. Nevertheless, our table looked great – all of us dressed up in black tie and blue jeans. This dress code seemed to be lost on the rest of the crowd just a little bit, however I am extremely proud and honoured to have been an ambassador for the company, and that we are able to help children realize their dreams, and let them have an amazing experience. I can’t say enough of the organizers and volunteers who help such a good cause!

Today the sky is bright blue and gorgeous, and I’m looking forward to going on a bike ride. I wanted to make sure I added some additions to the blog as I’ve been neglecting both this one and the wedding website.

I get a long weekend and am off Friday through to Sunday, and am planning on making the most of it. I’m going to do a little biking today, stop off at the mall to give michelle and Sandy their tickets, stop by the farmers market and maybe visit Eric downtown if I’m feeling really energetic

Tomorrow, I’ll be going for a bike ride (see a pattern yet?), then heading off to Stampede with a friend from work so that I can get drunk, eat lots of good bad-for-you food, and then will be attending the Katy Perry concert at the Saddledome. On Sunday, I’ll be going for a bike ride as it’s supposed to be sunny for the three days I’m off, and then Linda is coming over to play some video games with me. Because apparently we are both gigantic nerds.

I did want to say thank you to my Mom, Meghan, Mari-Lou, Nanny, and Justin for all of the gifts I got for my birthday. I need to follow up with some phone calls this weekend – so plan to hear from me on Sunday as that’s my real free day to just sit around and do much of nuthin.

Otherwise, the only other thing that I can think of that is new is that I might have slammed my middle and index fingertips in the vault at work. Fortunately, they are still attached, however tender! I got ice on them right away to prevent swelling, and kept it on for the throbbing two hours. Throbbing stopped after about 20 minutes when I could no longer feel my fingers as they were numb – but it’s all good. If you’re wondering how sore, I can still squeeze my finger tips pretty darn hard without it hurting, so it’s all good!

But that’s all I can think of for now… ciao ciao!

Alright… so a bit of a hiatus there. If it makes it any better, I’ve been at least thinking about blogging…

So… things that are new since May 30th. Well a few things here and there. It’s finally super warm here which is a nice change. We ended up purchasing a portable air conditioner for cheap at Future Shop to cool down the bedroom so that we can comfortably sleep. As far as the rest of the condo is concerned – well, we really don’t absolutely need it. The fan blows cool air from outside in, so we stay relatively comfortable outside the bedroom.

I went out and bought myself a new bike to replace the one I used to have before it got stolen a couple of years back. I’ve been enjoying getting back into it and have been getting to work and back on it as well instead of driving to save some money on gas. Although from what I understand, the price out here is far better than in Thunder Bay. Not to poke fun or anything…

Work is still going really well for both Eric and I. Eric may be up for a promotion in the not too distant future… so hopefully that will follow through. Otherwise I got to celebrate my birthday in Edmonton which was a total and utter bore. We ended up driving up July 3rd and came back on the 4th and will be never going back. West Edmonton Mall was a complete dive and definitely hasn’t been renovated or cleaned since the last time I visited it with my family many, many years ago.

Once back in Calgary, Eric ended up buying me all the gear I need for my new bike. I got a helmet, lock, lights, gloves, shorts, water bottle, portable air pump, and I think one other thing that I’m forgetting about but will remember after I’ve completed posting this.

In bigger news, I finally managed to purchase our wedding bands today. Which means we’re officially broke until this time next year once we’ve finished paying for both! Not really – but you know what I mean. We both got the rings we really wanted and are very happy with our choices – and since I work a certain somewhere and any jewellery that has gemstones can be cleaned for free, you can bet mine will be sparkly all the time.

Otherwise there really isn’t much left to do for the wedding other than find dress shirts that we like, and figure out our vows. Everything else it booked, purchased, or in line to be completed the day before the wedding. Like the marriage license which we need to get in person from city hall as wel can’t do it any other way. So it’ll be a mad dash to city hall as soon as we get into Thunder Bay as much as we would like to spend time with friends and family right from the get go.

Just a little over five weeks until the wedding which is getting kinda scary. So much so in fact that I think I’m going to post this now and head on over to the knot.com and make sure that I’m not forgetting to do anything right about now.

Ciao!

Yesterday was a really good day to have off with Eric. We started off with some breakfast at Cora’s where we had to wait in line due to the high popularity of the joint. Eric had eggs benny and I had the 1990′s Harvest which was basically an egg, bacon, cinnamon raison brioche dipped in french toast batter and fried up covered in a mountain of fruit. Yummy!

As we were eating we were debating what we wanted to do with the rest of our day, and once we done breakfast – which I suppose you could probably call brunch – at 11:30, Eric had the genius idea of heading out to the zoo. Seeing as I had never been, and Eric hadn’t been in about 5 years, and it was 17 degrees and sunny out – we headed to the zoo.

Twenty minutes and forty two dollars later, we had paid our admission and were on our way down the walkways of the zoo. Peacocks – which Eric and I can’t help but call Kevin now since they make the same ‘cawing’ sound as the big blue bird in Up – were roaming the zoo grounds freely. I was hoping to see a peacock assault a little four year old, but my hopes were shattered by the time we found the exit.

We got to see a plethora of animals… from gorillas to snow leopards, giraffes to hippos. If you want a general rundown of all the animals we got to see, I suggest you either get on the blower and give us a call, or visit the Calgary Zoo website.

What I believe to be about two hours later, we were nicely sunned and ready to go home for some “lunch”. In all reality it turned out to be dinner as it was a little after 5pm and we were both ready to lounge. I ended up cracking open a bottle of red and building up an antipasto plate. Not surprisingly we had more than enough to build a nice platter. Spicy genoa, cured prosciutto, garlic stuffed green olives, croissants, flatbread crackers, spicy sliced pickles, cranberry cinnamon goat cheese, and roasted garlic cloves. And god damn if it wasn’t delicious. We terrorized the entire thing, whilst draining our bottle of shiraz after which we both took a five hour nap. Woke up, watched a movie together, and then went back to bed.

Lazy day you say – well yes… it was. But you know what… I can’t see your judgemental look, so I don’t care.

Well – what would you know – Eric and I had the day off together. Which meant sleeping in – hooray! After I made breakfast which was a medley of toast, eggs and breakfast sausage, we got showered and out of the house into our beautiful, rainy weather. We made our way to Safeway so that we could pick up a gift card for Eric’s work, and I grabbed us some Starbucks from the less than busy associates in their little kiosk.

Once we had our caffeine, we were on our way again to the mall so I could pop into the store to say hi. What I find amazing is that I’m actually voluntarily going into work on my day off to visit. Go figure – apparently I can actually say without hesitation that I truly love my job. Anyways, after visiting the store quickly I went up to Diva Hair Salon so that I could get some hair product since I ran out this morning after using the last little bit. The we had lunch with a new work friend after Eric had dropped a parcel off at Canada Post.

From the mall we headed to the Farmers Market and got a couple of things. We grabbed some bison tenderloin, bison pepperoni, a dozen mini pies for lunches and such, pita bread, black olives stuffed with garlic, tzatziki and then grabbed some Vietnamese subs for lunch.

Once we got home with our treasures, we stuffed our faces while watching Anthony Bourdain. Once full I ended up passing out on the sofa seeing as I’m apparently tired today. I think it’s just all the cloudy weather and rain that’s making my brain think that I’m tired.

Eric ended up cleaning a little bit while I was off in Z Land, and grabbed the mail that was waiting for us in the lobby. We received a blank RSVP, and another from Lynn (hooray!). We’re thoroughly confused about the blank one, however we do know that it originates from Canada due to the stamp, and that they regretfully decline.

Otherwise for the rest of the night I’ll just be going through the files on my computer and getting rid of anything I don’t need. Have a good night!

What do you think? Should Eric be allowed to make posts on this blog – or should he go back to his own corner of the internet otherwise known as myjorgenson.com? Make your voice heard and vote at the top right. Cheers!

You know what I like? My iPhone. Why you ask? Because I can place and receive calls. What I find curious is that my mom, dad, and sister all have cell phones but never answer them. Nor do they answer their home phone, or the camp phone, or even the phone they sit at all day at work in some instances. Thank god I’m not dying today because that would have been a lovely voicemail. Ah well. No chat time with them today.

So what’s new… yesterday at work was bloody busy. Felt like I was a chicken running around with its head cut off. It seems we only get busier the further away from the opening day we get, which I’m not going to lie, I find somewhat surprising. I think the best way to describe yesterday was a la the director’s description of it being like a category F4 tornado trying to keep up with the work. But fortunately I’m not all that pretty because I can get my work done efficiently. Otherwise, it was a really good day – fantastic staff on, and loving my managers.

I bought a couple of pieces from Banana Republic recently so that I could wear something different to work. Two sweaters, navy suit, a white dress shirt, and then a pair of grey pants just to wear around casually. My wardrobe is definitely beginning to look like an executives. Thank god I like dressing up!

Today I get to work a closing shift, so I don’t have to be in until later today which means I got to sleep in today. Which I nearly forgot what it was like to do so. Basically I wake up and Eric’s already off to work and I’m not bolting up out of bed at 8AM because I get the gut feeling I’ll be receiving a phone call as someone is sick and can’t make it to work. Gone are those days.

But I should get cleaned up and ready for work. Don’t want to be late!