Teesa tagged me. Dang it.
5 people who will be annoyed you tagged them.

- Jen
- Ciana
- Kat
- Mike
- Debbie

4 things that should go into room 101 and be removed from the face of the earth.

- Paris Hilton and Britney Spears (yes they are considered “one” thing to me :P)
- Child abuse and neglect
- War
- Violence and guns

3 things people do that make you want to shake them violently.

- When people confuse “your” with “you’re”… DUDE!! 3rd grade grammar and spelling, people!!
- When people blame others for their own choices.
- When people go out of their way to be inconsiderate.

2 things you find yourself moaning about.

- The crappy summer we’ve been having this year. What the heck is up with all this rain?!
- All these extra “crap” we have in the home. I’m in the mood to simplify and reduce.

1 thing the above answers tell you about yourself.

- I like hot summers and simplifying things?

RULES

- Link to the original meme at freelancecynic.com so people know what it’s all about!
- Be as honest as possible, This is about letting people get to know the real you!
- Try not to insult anyone - unless they really deserve it or are very, very ugly!
- Post these rules at the end of every meme!

Teesa has another contest called: “Caption your childhood photo contest”! So here’s mine!

“These lopsided pigtails are stretching my face into a cheesy smile!!”

Okay that’s the best I can do. My brain is dead. Haha.

Aawww, good morning, everyone. The comments still aren’t working. Ciana and I have been too busy to bother fixing it, although I’m rather still annoyed at it. Sorry for the long-time waiting. Anyway, I haven’t updated in a while, and in case you have already guessed why, you’re probably right — our wedding was last Sunday!! The last two weeks were a blur, an absolute blur, and Sunday was the most magical day of my life, to date. It beat out both my graduations, any birthday parties, and even my bridal showers and bachelorette party. It was a dream come true. Everything went without a hitch, everyone was amazing, the weather cooperated, and the scenery was perfect. If you want to see a brief video of our ceremony and the exact moment we said “I do,” feel free to check out our wedding site, blathersnort.com. I’m going to be using that site over the next month or so to thank people for all their help, upload videos and pictures of the wedding, and talk about the first course of “married life.” And then I’m not quite sure what to do with the site after that. I’m sure I’ll think of something. I always do.
Other pictures of the wedding will be uploaded soon, most likely to blathersnort, but also to flickr/pixiedwards, for your variable enjoyment. We won’t be getting the formal pictures from the photographers until 4-6 weeks from now, and I absolutely cannot wait to see them! I think they took hundreds, close to a thousand, pictures, and I bet they’re all beautiful!!

Aahh and now I have to go back to work. I’m so totally not in the mindset to go back to work. Totally not at all. I guess once I’m there, things will go back to normal. Dave and I are absolutely giddy, and he’s even holding my hand whenever we’re around each other (which is totally not his thing haha). We keep calling each other “wife” and “husband.” We got a good stash going for our honeymoon, and we spent our pre-honeymoon, two days after the wedding, at Harrison Hot Springs. That was absolutely magical as well. We even had a lovely lovely time in their public naturally heated pool and hot spa. Hee hee. Can’t wait to go back there. It’s absolutely gorgeous there!

Recently, about a month or so ago, I decided that I was going to read a little bit every night. Even if it’s just for a few minutes before bedtime, I was determined to make it a self promise, an act of hardcore self discipline perhaps, to follow through on this. So I started my mini-quest, among the other bigger quests in my life at the moment.

This task has been harder than I had originally thought it would be. I often come home completely exhausted, with fantasized notions of head hitting pillow with a blissful bang, and the last thing I want to do is engage my brain in more exercise. But I am also reminded everyday of how my bookcases are stacked high with newly purchased, awesome-smelling books that are just waiting to be broken into to. Fresh cover to cover goodness, untouched by any other human just yet, freshly done and wrapped. I have a long list of books piled high on every shelf waiting for me to go through them. And I secretly tell them, thinking they can hear me, “I know you’re there. I’m not ignoring you. I’ll get to you soon, I promise!”

And somehow, soon is never soon enough. After working approximately 50 hours a week every week, on top of wedding plans, family issues, and other unplanned life situations, reading a book just seems like a reward that should only be for the rich and famous. Or something.

So I finally broke down and made myself a promise. And when that happens, all hell can break loose before I break my promise. Heh. So for the last month or so, I’ve made an honest effort to read a little at least 6 nights out of the week. It’s gotten a little annoying to Dave because once his head hits the pillow, he believes the rest of the world should do the same… yes, even me who is right next to him with my bedside lamp turned on. Poor guy. He’s like “Zee light… zee liiighhhtttt… aaahhhh!!” And I’m telling him, “Just a few more minutes, promise!”

And then, after all this time, after “forcing” myself to get back into a hobby I thought I could never live without for so long, I am finally reading again. It is finally becoming addicting again. It is finally feeling like home again. Ah I love the feeling of holding a good book in my hands. I love going to lunch by myself every week reading a good book and eating a good dish. I love reading a few pages right before bed, all snuggled up under the covers with all the lights turned off except for that bedside lamp. How comforting.

The rest of the world can go on as fast as it wants. I’m reading my book.

So the last few days have been a little difficult for me and my family, albeit the excitement of having the wedding coming up so closely. Dave’s bachelor’s party went very well — the whole 9 yards as far as bachelor’s parties go, I suppose. I’ll let you use your imagination on that one. Hehee.

Comments still aren’t working on this site, and I’m almost ready to call it quits and move over to Wordpress, to tell you the truth. Only thing is, I’m pretty attached to this layout and I hate installing new things. Ciana is still gone, and hopefully she’s having loads of fun and moving into her new flat and stuff, but I’ve realized how dependent I am of ONE person for this MT stuff. That’s not good. Not sure what to do about that, but the comments thing is really pissing me off.

Anyway, I’m just going to take it one day at a time for a while. Luckily, my caseload has decreased at work due to all this stuff going on, and I am really grateful for that. I don’t think I can handle any crisis at work — I’d probably break down and start screaming at people for no good reason. Helen-style mental breakdowns aren’t so fun. Can’t remember the last time I’ve had one, but I rather not be pushed to that limit again any time soon. I’ve learned to take care of myself and what to do when I’m pushed, and I’ve learned to ask for support.

Anyway, hope you guys are doing well. Send me an email if you are so inclined, since the goddamn commenting doesn’t work and all.

Yesterday was my bachelorette party with the girls. It was so much fun!! We went for a play/show in Vancouver, called Tony N Tina’s Wedding. It was an interactive play where we were the guests of a hilarious wedding, which led into the reception full of food and entertainment, which included dancing and interacting with the characters. It was so much fun I’m surprised I didn’t lose my voice by the end of the night! Admittedly, I wasn’t much of a dancer — haven’t danced in so long that I remembered I had two left feet. Oh well, it was fun anyway! There were a whopping 12 of us, little alcohol, and clean fun.

Doris and Marita bought over a pink boa for me to wear for the evening (the shedding feathers gave notice to wherever I went). They were the first to arrive at our house, followed by a big bus-like limousine. I was so surprised and clueless that I went out and asked the driver, “Do you have the wrong address? We didn’t order a bus!” Haha! Everyone had a good laugh and I was so overwhelmed and happy with love. Yeah, high on love. The best kind of drug there is.

So then we all hopped onto the limo and rode our way to Vancouver, where we attended Tina and Tony’s wedding, which was absolutely hilarious. And then we all walked to the reception, which was held at Queen Elizabeth Theatre smack in the middle of downtown. There, we were witness (as guests of the “wedding”) to a hilarious run-down of the family dynamic that is Tina’s and Tony’s joining of a union. It was so much fun! I think I couldn’t stop laughing the whole time. It is awesome just hanging out with a bunch of girls. The twelve of us danced and laughed and mingled with the different characters of the play, and then we sleepily rode back in the limo home.

I had such a blast, I wouldn’t mind doing it again, just for the sake of hanging out with the same group of girls. Most of them were from Dave’s side of the family — sister, sisters-in-laws, mom, Gran, extended family — and Doris and Marita were wonderful enough to come. Everyone was just so lovely and accommodating and wonderful! I’m so fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends.

Tonight is Dave’s stag party. He’s going to get dropped off by his grandmother and his fiancee. Haha. It sets the precedence for our marriage, eh? He’s such a sweetie pie. He’s going to hang out with his brothers and male family members, which are all wonderful people. They’re going to take good care of him tonight and I hope he has just as much fun as I did at my party!

The wedding is two weeks from tomorrow. OH. MY. GOSH!!!

Hi folks! Sorry about the comments not working. My MT guru (aka Ciana) isn’t available right now to fix it, so we’ll have to put up with it for another week. If you need to speak with me, just feel free to email me, yesh?

The last week has been absolutely gorgeous here on our side of the world. Fourth of July was spent working a bit in the morning, and then coming home and opening up all the doors and windows to let some fresh air flow through, while Tink followed me around while I tidy up the house. Tonight we’re going to go for dinner by the beach, complete with laptops to see if we have wireless down there. If we do, I’m guessing we’re going to be spending a majority of our summer on the beach (besides the wedding stuff, of course).

I had a crazy dream last night that I was late to my own wedding. And Dave was with me the whole time, so we were both late to our wedding. It was panicky and I did not like it one bit!! I’m sure the actual day will go well.

I kinda like taking Hump Day off. It’s like a Saturday in the middle of the week. Now back to work, and I strangely feel slightly rejuvenate. Odd, that!

ETA: Sorry about the comments not working. Little trained monkeys are working as fast as possible to fix this problem.
Teesa tagged me for 8 Random Thingies or something like that. I’m just gonna list 8 things about myself (I know I’m breaking the rules by not posting the rules). I won’t tag anyone because by this time, there’s no one else to tag.
1. I love Home & Garden Television. Watching all those make-over shows gives me ideas on how I want our first home to look like when we buy a home.

2. I often wake up to kitty cuddles. I wake up to this almost every morning, actually. That cat is a cuddling mess.

3. I’m surprised when people do nice things for me.

4. I collect mother figures.

5. I also collect big sister figures.

6. I am a hopeless romantic, though I will often scoff and laugh at the whole notion. I have a reputation to keep up! Shh, don’t tell anyone. I’m hardcore. Right.

7. My laptop is my inanimate best friend.

8. I love plants. A lot. However, right now, Dave is taking care of all of our house plants because I have no time to look after them as much as I want to. Hence, some of them have gone to plant heaven. Boo.

So Mike has tagged me a loooong time ago regarding imaginary interviewing. I promised him that I would do it, and it’s better late than never! Just so you guys know, tagging me may prove fruitless from time to time, but I do my best to keep it up! Teesa has also tagged me with something else and I still need to do that too.
Imaginary Interviewer: How many blogs have you had in the past?

Gee, that’s a loaded question, you know. I’ve had so many I’ve lost count. Mindmirror.net is a first and primary one, but after that, there has been karmiclight.com, pinkseed.com, helenatural.com, ten30.org, blathersnort.com, and I think that’s it, though I very well could be missing one or two. There’s been so many in the last 10 years.

Imaginary Interviewer: How are you able to blog so much everyday?

You know, this question has come up many a times from many a people! It’s a wonder how I’m able to blog at all, since I work around 50 hours a week, at least. I think the correct answer to this is that I am very verbose and I think too much, and I tend to way over-analyze everything. Plus, my main source of de-stressing is writing. Because it’s gotten me over some pretty tough times over the past 15 years or so, I never let it go. I always find time to write because it’s important to me.

Imaginary Interviewer: What’s the best thing and the worst thing about having a blog?

The best thing is that when you’re blogging regularly, somehow people tend to find you. You have the potential to make really neat, new friends, and some of them even stick around for years and years. Plus, you get to have a different type of relationship with these new faceless people.

The worst thing I would say is probably the “blog drama” that comes from time to time. People get touchy about involving themselves in what I would dub “high school blog world,” especially the females. I don’t like how blog sites can be used as a new source of high school playground, where gossiping is replaced by “snippets” and cliques are formed through random, anonymous “sayings.” It’s weird, and it sucks that it’s traveled well into the blogging world from the high school playground.

Imaginary Interviewer: What has changed over your years of blogging?

I used to be more open about what I’m going through on a more personal level, but after going through grad school and having a real “profession” and a real “career,” I’ve learned that I really need to be a little less open about my personal life because it’s so… open… in this online world. I save those for my personal journal now.

Imaginary Interviewer: What’s in your future when it comes to blogging?

I have a few things in the works. One of which is The Lucky Foundation. I also plan on expanding Mind Mirror a little more, updating it and adding more of my artwork that I’ve done in the last few months. And, of course, I haven’t done a new personal layout in ages, when I used to whip them up at least 3 or 4 times a week! Ah the good ol’ days, eh.