Instead I Will Sleep

I am/was running out of my various pills - I am between doctors at the moment and while I do have a new one set up we have yet to really meet and timing is off in terms of prescriptions. I have been 'rationing' my main anti-depressants for the last few days. Normally I would take 3 or 4 a night, but to make them last I was picking some nights to have only 2 (including last night when I finished the last 2 I had.) Luckily, I got a small prescription done and will be seeing at least a nurse practitioner, who can prescribe medicine, this week.

Anyway, I wonder if I it is lowering of my meds or a combination of other things but today has been a strange day. It has been a bit of a roller coaster of emotions, nothing too extreme - I am not bi-polar despite a terrifying comment made by a doctor last year. Today wasn't really a bad day and there were lots of nice things and good emotions too. But I really feel like ranting and pushing out all of the negativity! I am not going to though, I think it makes more sense at the moment to just sleep.

Trust Me - It Was Amazing!

Mike Got Married!!

Yesterday, Little Brother Mike 'tied the knot' with Aimee - it was incredible. I had wanted to hold off posting until I had some photos to show you, so everyone could see just how dashing Michael looked in his uniform, how stunningly beautiful Aimee was, and how much fun all the guests were having at the party afterwards. However, for now you will just have to take my word for it. Everything was absolutely wonderful!! More details to follow - I promise.

Introducing: Locklan!!

* Lochlan David N. *

Born: Tuesday July 24th, 2012

Proud parents: Taylor & Mark
Proud godparent: Kristen

 Welcome To The World Little Baby Boy!!

Taken by me with Kristen's cell phone

(He is about 26 hours old in this picture.)

Interesting Thought

----- from Twitter 

"When we work hard on something we believe in, it's called passion. When we work hard on something we don't believe in, it's called stress."

And The Baby Wins

Taylor and Mark got some very beautiful maternity photos done. (Yes, Taylor has been pregnant for the last nine or so months - something that I don't think has been officially announced on Always Standing.) I asked permission to post some of the pictures and Taylor said yes.

Well, last night Taylor had the baby! He beat me to even posting about the pregnancy! I am so excited - Congratulations to Mark and Taylor!!

Kristen and I are going to go and visit him tonight. From what I can tell from the small photos coming from Mark to the cell phone - I am going to be spending some time with a beautiful, tiny, perfect, and adorable little creature this evening. I can't wait to meet him!! Hopefully I can get a couple of quick photos and ask Taylor if I can put them up too. In the mean time here is what he looked like a month or so ago...

Mark & Taylor - Maternity

By Gerri Photography

Lessons From NYC - Art Deco Is Timeless

A Light On The Chrysler Building

Photo by me with my cell phone

I loved it before and I loved it again; The Chrysler Building is beautiful. I love Art Deco architecture on both a grand and intimate scale. (However, I am not a big fan of Art Deco elsewhere.)

USA 2012 - Roadtrip Update #4

Pre-Scheduled Post:
As per my trip itinerary (bar any issues/changes/complications etc.)
I should be ....

Heading home. This is our longest driving day. I need to be back in Toronto by tonight since I have to work tomorrow.

Boston? Where Are You?

Which Exit?

Self Portrait

Teri and I are heading back to Canada today. The above photo is from the drive between New York City and Boston - I am the navigator in the car. (When on foot, for the most part Ter handles transit and navigation.) I was good with the maps and directions for the first driving leg of the trip but this last one was a little shaky; There definitely were some u-turns, missed exits, and circling back situations. Today is our longest drive - lets see how well I do with the maps this time!

USA 2012 - Roadtrip Update #3

Pre-Scheduled Post:

As per our trip itinerary (bar any issues/changes/complications etc.)
Teri and I should be ....

Moving on to visit Boston, the final city of this trip.

A New York Tidbit

Teri and I got a walking tour of High Line Park in NYC. It was amazing, 'Google it' to read about what it is. New York City is one of my favourite places in the world. It is so beautiful and vibrant! This is Teri's fourth time visiting the city and she says that she keeps find new and interesting things every time she comes. She had been to The High Line before, on her last visit, upon a suggestion from one of Greg's friends. We both love it here.

I have so many little stories to share about our two days here but don't time at the moment to write about them all. I hope to post a few in the future in a little series called Lessons From NYC, so stay tuned.

USA 2012 - Roadtrip Update #2

Pre-Scheduled Post:

As per our trip itinerary (bar any issues/changes/complications etc.)
Teri and I should be ....

Driving to New York City today and we have tickets to see a taping of The Daily Show this afternoon.

As The President

It is just a normal afternoon, signing some Bill into Legislation while my lovely First Lady looks on...

However, it isn't long before the First Lady starts to get some political ideas of her own...

Teri and the United States Capitol Building

Photo By Me, Taken With My Cell

The first picture was taken in a gift shop in a Oval Office reproduction, it was pretty fun to pose with the big desk!

Chillin' With Lincoln

Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

Photo by Teri O

And by "chillin' with Lincoln," I actually mean sweating my ass off! It has been been high 30's here in Washington with intense humidity, also The Mall is wide open and dry making walking unbearable at times. Teri is often heard saying, "It is like we are in an oven!" However, the city is awesome; the buildings, memorials, and museums are impressive; and the history is amazing!

The Land Of The Free

Oh, America...

USA 2012 - Roadtrip Update #1

Pre-Scheduled Post:
As per our trip itinerary (bar any issues/changes/complications etc.)
Teri and I should be ....

Checking into our hotel in Washington, DC later on today! (We first need to do a little outlet store shopping in Grove City.)

USA Road Trip Itinerary 2012

I have started my trip with Teri! We are chilling out in a road-side motel just north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Here is the planned itinerary:

Washington, DC
Monday July 16th to Thursday July 19th

New York, New York
Thursday July 19th to Saturday July 21st

Boston, Massachusetts
Saturday July 21st to Tuesday July 24th

To keep everyone up to date as to where I am, I have scheduled some Always Standing itinerary details to share when we are moving on to a new city.

Found It - x2

At one point a couple of weeks ago I couldn't find either of my pairs of glasses.

Item Lost: Red Pair of Glasses
Time Lost: 2 months
Last Place I Remember: At the cottage
Place Found: In the fruit bowl on the kitchen table

Item Lost: Black Pair of Glasses
Time Lost: 3 days
Last Place I Remember: At the gym
Place Found: In the hallway toiletries closet

Always Editing

Every now and then I go back and read bits of Always Standing - I tend to find errors. Here is a recent one:

From: Spoiled By J
Said: I found it both flattering and revealing.
(When talking about him finding and reading my blog.)
Should be: I found it both flattering and relieving.

That Gotye Song

I know that I just posted about THIS recently, but the song really is everywhere right now. This video is a very accurate representation of what happens when the song comes on in the car. It is funny because it is true. The clip is strange because at times I found it slow and awkward and that it didn't hold my attention and then it has shinning moments when I laughed out loud and chuckled afterwards about. What do you think?

Quote Of The Day

---- from Twitter

This made me think of my mom:

"It's not 'box wine'...... it's Cardboardeaux."

SC - Matching

There was only three of us for Salad Club today, so I didn't have to make a lot. I decided to match that with a three item salad - a pared down version of the first one I did.

Not A Lot Of Time, Money, Or Ingredients Salad
- Defrost a bag of small shrimp
- English Cucumber
- Avocado
- Dressing: French (Kristen had Italian Herb)

The Sole Lease Holder

Last night I went to go and renew the lease for Rrunuv Bayit. Kristen & Noah are going to be moving out and living together a little further west (in a super sweet loft-style place that I hope they let me help paint!) I haven't fully decided whether I am going to get another roommate or try living on my own for a while. Either way, I decided I would be the only name on the lease. This is the first time ever that I have held a lease on my own! There was always at least one other co-signer. I can remember my first apartment, Glen in Ottawa; there were so many people signed on the lease: Steph, Em, & I were living together so we signed and then I believe our parents did too! A lot has changed in 8 years.

Spoiled By J

I met J very very quickly on eHarmony. He was one of the matches that I messaged the first night I joined and he was the first person I met up with to meet face-to-face. To be ensure that the first date truly was special, I met up with someone else from the online dating site to see if all dates were like that since I was so new to it all. The second date was enjoyable but the chemistry was not there for me. This second guy wanted to meet up again and I had to apologize and say we weren't a good match. J and I then moved quite quickly into 'relationship status' and I stopped being an active participant on eHarmony - basically closing my profile.

J and I had a decent run - for the most part it was a fun three months and a great re-entry into the world of dating after a bit of a hiatus. However, I feel like it gave me a false sense of security and incorrect impressions of the online-dating world.

Thoughts From My First Use Of eHarmony And How The Second Run Is Different:

-- "This is going to be super fast and easy." J and I sent a couple of fun and witty emails, did a bit of arranging over text message to meet up and grabbed dinner as a last minute plan when we both figured out we have an evening free. Now, I am probably over a month into dating again and I have found getting to know guys and arranging dates with them can be tedious. Sometimes the text messaging stage lasts so long and gets so intense/flirty/frequent that it is practically like we are dating before we even meet. I also am busy so maybe that is making it harder to arrange times to meet - but I am always busy usually my social life fits around everything well.

-- "I am going to meet interesting people and do interesting things." This thought is manly based on the idea the dates are creative, fun, outings. Admittedly J and I just grabbed basic pub dinners the first few times we went out but soon after, because his interests and life were so different from mine, I got to do a lot of things I hadn't done before - like go to a hockey game in Toronto, Go Leafs Go! I think I have first-date burnout. I have gotten to visit some nice restaurants that I haven't been to before (and I got taken out in a really sweet car by a guy who sadly never called again) but in general these meetings are not super thrilling. 

-- "The blog is going to help me."  J had found Always Standing prior to us going on our first date - without prompting. This ended up disclosing the ADD, depression, what I look like, etc. upfront. I found it both flattering and revealing. Now, guys either refuse to look me up, even when given the details or they do and then they disappear, presumably turned-off my something that they found online.

-- "Everyone will want to meet and then date me." My first two dates both resulted in being asked out a second time. I proceeded to date one of them and had to politely decline the other. Even beyond that there were people still online who were interested in meet me. I am finding people this time around who are interested in meeting me - though it doesn't feel like a long or impressive list at the moment. However, once they meet me - they do not want to see me again! Some just completely sever conversation, which is so frustrating. Then others send a short message stating that they aren't interested in pursuing things further, which is a method that I prefer, however still can be heart-breaking at times.

It is definitly a good thing that the last thought listed above got challenged. It is not healthy/attractive to go around with that sort of attitude. However, I do wish things were going better. I will post later on about the various theories as to why I don't seem to be making good connections this time around.

There Is Always Hope With Star Wars

I came home the other night and Noah was watching Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, or in my mind, "Sweet! Is that the first one?" I haven't seen it in so long, and of course it is SO good. I love the 'original three' so much. Someone has made a Gotye 'Somebody That I Used To Know' Parody about the fact that the 'new three' don't really live up to how great the other movies were. (For those who don't know the song or music video for Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used To Know' you can view it HERE. See the amusing Star Wars parody below:

SC - Fish Salad

This is the basic salad that I always like to make, though beyond the spinach and tuna I often change up the other vegetables.

Tuna/Salmon & Spinach Salad
The tomatoes get everything mushy so I do them separately and add right before serving.
- Finely chopped carrot (I bought a little bag)
- English cucumber
- Green Pepper
- Tomatoes
- Spinach
- Top with either canned tuna or salmon (I brought little pouches of both so people could pick.)
- Dressing: French (though Classic Herb also works)