My February Baby

Today marks two decades of Julie, 20 years since I first saw the shriveled pink face with a shock of dark hair that 3-year-old me designated "my February baby". She was big and loud then, and not much has changed!

So to my beautiful, sometimes bald, always bigger and always little sister, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Total Eclipse of the [Moon]

How appropriate that last night during our circuit training at practice, we sang total eclipse of the heart. Or at least, those who could manage to sing, sang. It's pretty hard to sing while doing the icky shuffle on the agility ladder...

Last night there was a total eclipse of the moon, an event that won't happen again until sometime in 2010 (which really isn't that far away). I had made it home from practice and was relaxing with a quesadilla while I watched it. It was pretty incredible and I wish I had a picture or a video, but unfortunately my camera is psycho and I haven't gotten a new one yet. I could see it out my bedroom window and there was this incredible juxtaposition between the natural phenomenon of the eclipse occurring right over the top of the urban icon of the Empire State Building. It was pretty amazing to watch. The only picture I can find that comes close to it is copyrighted, but you can see it here.

I found this clip on youtube and I love the captions:



The Universe IS Amazing!

oh v-day...

valentine's day is an interesting concept...on one hand, i can't hate a holiday whose main purpose seems to be excessive amounts of chocolate and those amazing conversation hearts that i am obsessed with for some reason. but on the other, if you're in love, shouldn't you want to show it every day? why does hallmark get a piece of the action?

that's not to say i've never celebrated. i mean, you HAD to send cards to all 30 kids in the class in elementary school. and i've done the nice-dinner-out thing twice, although one doesn't really count. my freshman year, my boyfriend at the time took both me and my friend J out for dinner. the waiters kept asking him to tell them his secrets to getting two dates on v-day!

at this point, i'm pretty happy with my plans for the day. aside from having to go to work, it's good! we held an office plank contest (inspired by some friends) and i lasted for 3:50 and beat the guys, which was fun. after work i have a hot date with some friends--they play in a basketball league, and i will be acting as team assistant manager (short shorts and high socks required). it just occurred to me that i will look somewhat like will ferrell in semi-pro...hopefully this will not be a bad thing! and then we'll be going out and celebrating thursday night, just like in the old days ;)

and as an antidote to the enforced touchy-feely mushfest that so many radio and tv stations fall prey to today, i've been listening to rufus wainwright's instant pleasure all day! (the video is awful but it's all i could find...just listen)

Happy Year of the Rat!

In the spirit of Chinese New Year, and because I didn't ever make regular New Year's resolutions, I'm making them now!So, my Chinese New Year's Resolutions will have to be held til next February.

1. I will stop playing with my hair. You all have full permission to slap my hand if you catch me at it!
2. I will make a budget and stick to it.
3. I will beg/borrow/steal and read all the books I've marked as "to-read" on Goodreads. I will read New Zealand fiction.
4. I will hug more.
5. I will bottle up less.
6. I will talk to my family more often, and visit my sister at school.
7. I will solo hike, and I will backpack. I will definitely backpack with Pam, because it's just sad that we've never gone together.
8. I will keep a more regular journal.
9. I will brush up my French.
10. I will plan my grand adventure!
11. I will avoid deportation.
12. I will keep in better touch with friends I don't see all the time.
13. I will run more.
14. I will hold myself to these goals!

I think that's enough for now. Happy New Year!

It's Poppin'

Apparently I did something wrong on shoulder day of my Colgan workout last week, because all weekend my back felt like hell and I spent half of Monday on the floor under my desk, rolling on a tennis ball to try to get the knot out. This is also how I watched the Superbowl...except that on that floor, I got to play with a bunny too! So Tuesday morning was spent with Dr B and her magic hands. She manipulated my spine back in line and it was poppin' like Lil Mama's lip gloss (I am totally addicted to that song). For serious, it sounded like a bag of microwave popcorn was going off somewhere between my shoulder blades! So now I'm relying on ice, anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants to get the muscle spasm to relax...my favourite threesome :)

As Dr B pointed out, alcohol is a marvelous muscle relaxant, which was probably why I felt fine at our rugby banquet on Friday night. It was so much fun to hang out with the club and see people I hadn't seen since our team meeting in December or the new year's day football game! Karaoke-ing till 3:30am was pretty ridiculous too; KB and I decided to act as backup singers & dancers for many many people and were totally shocked when the lights went on and the music was turned off--apparently it was time to go home? It was definitely a night I won't forget for so many reasons, but especially because I was so honoured to be named rookie of the year. I've never gotten any award for rugby (aside from those of the paper-plate variety), and to receive one from this incredible team means so much to me. I got teary, and I am not normally a crier. This team is so welcoming and I'm so happy to be a part of it. I can't wait for the spring season to start so I can see everyone more often!

Saturday night Alyssa hosted a "High School Party" where we all dressed in what we wore in high school and rocked out to 90s/high school classics. Full disclosure: I do have a boy band station on pandora :) It was hilarious to sing the songs & artists that were huge during those years...remember "the boy is mine," "say my name," kc & jojo, savage garden, "no scrubs," and britney back in the good old days? I rocked the messy pigtail buns (complete with the two little face-framing strands of hair in front, naturally) and tons of glitter. Remember glitter? Glitter was great...

And now it's mid-week and Lent has started. I was lame and stayed at home on my couch on Mardi Gras for the first time, but I had a bag of frozen corn ace-wrapped to my back so I think it was the right choice! This year I decided to get control of my sweet tooth. It's really been getting out of control--the top drawer of my desk is full of nothing but candy & chocolate. So I'm not going to eat those things, or ice cream, cake, etc, for the duration of lent. It will be hard, especially with valentine's day coming (how I love those little hearts!) but I will do it.

It was actually inspired by something my best friend 80 and I did when we were about 14; we stopped eating all food we deemed "junk" for an entire year. Candy, pop, cake, pie, ice cream, chips, all the good stuff--we just quit cold turkey. It was difficult at first, but soon became much easier than I had thought. I think the only thing we caved on was eating cake on our birthdays; some things you just can't turn down! Some of it even became a longer-term habit--I didn't start drinking pop again until I started needing mixers ;) So we'll see how I fare this time...