PICS

Here are some of the many "before" pictures that I took of our new place!!

MY NEW HOUSE!!!

We got possession of our house yesterday morning and man oh man did the day ever start off disastrous.  First of all, my cell phone alarm was not enough to wake me from my 6-hour coma that I was in (obviously because I couldn’t fall asleep originally due to worrying about the house and what we were going to do first) and then when my boyfriend and his parents showed up at the house in order to start cleaning and moving things in, the key that we were given only worked in the garage key hole and not the house.  I know what you’re thinking: “Maybe the keys for the house were left in the garage?”  NO.  So we had to phone the lawyer, have him phone the other lawyer who then mentioned that the son of the guy whose house we bought was on his way to read the meters anyway so he could give us the key he has.  I know, confusing. 

 

Then, luckily my boyfriend’s mom was the one who had to deal with the guy when he showed up otherwise I think I would have had to deal with a few assault charges lol (My boyfriend and his dad were ready to kill the guy because he was being an ass).

 

Yeesh… so then, once we got started we were able to get all of the living room and dining room furniture moved in and the kitchen, upstairs bathroom and downstairs bathroom cleaned and ready to paint.  I’m heading back there tonight to start painting as Rob and his dad were there this morning taping and covering everything.  We pick up our “new” fridge and stove from my parents house this evening and then we’re going to attempt to drop them off at our house tonight…

 

It’s a mish mosh of ridiculousness.  So many things to do, so little time before we move in… I spent $250 on paint last night!  And that only covers MOST of the upstairs that needs to be painted!  There’s one wall that currently has wallpaper on it (that is going to be ridiculously hard to remove because it’s above the stairs and a really high wall because we bought a bi-level)

 

I took a bunch of “before” pictures of the house to show the colours and all of our stuff all over the place before we start painting and putting stuff in its rightful place… I will post those in a separate post because there are a lot of them!

3 more sleeps...

Hey Everyone!

So... there are only three more days until we get possession of our new house! I can't wait... I've been doing a bit of research trying to find the perfect colours to do in our living room, kitchen, and two upstairs bedrooms but I'm having a bit of trouble picking one...


This is a picture from the listing of our living room... so we've got a huge window to work with... and oak parquet flooring... our couches are green but more of a blueish green than the one in this picture (this was the old owners living room). Don't worry, I will be taking before and after pictures as we renovate and making sure that I discuss what we're doing step by step as we go along.

Now, what I'm thinking is that I'm going to do the wall behind the couch and the wall with the window in a creamy beige colour and then add aubergine accent walls (Yes, two accent walls as well). The one wall that separates the kitchen from the living room I will want aubergine, and then the entranceway wall that leads downstairs as well could be aubergine or maybe even a darker grey colour... I'm still working through that in my head. I'm going to go in there on Monday and then while my boyfriend and his parents are cleaning and patching, sanding and etc. I will head over to Home Depot and pick us up some paint! I can't wait to see the transformation!!

I might even take a video!

Oh yeah, look for future posts about me entering a contest that I need your help with!

Have a good one!

The Results are in!

Well... the results are in!  I'm a 7.5 according to beautifulpeople.com and accepted as a beautiful person lol.  Well that's good to know... but I never did find out how much they charge for the service because when I clicked on the link to send my verification email it didn't send.  Maybe the 7-8 range of people only get a fake acceptance lol.  

But yeah... experiment over, I found that it's actually quite pleasing to find out that I am one of the "beautiful people" according to the site.  The funny thing is that with over 20,000 people adding profiles each week, the current members spend all of their time rating new people.  What a dating site lol.  And, some people don't get rated at all.  I was only rated twice... and it didn't show who the first person was so I assume that it's a computer generated vote (Of midway at 5) to get you started and then other people have to vote either 10 or 1 to sway the rating.  Jean Yves from France voted me as a 9.75 lol on all three of my pictures... so that must mean something... but it didn't show that first one... so I can only assume.

Ah well... pretty hilarious though... I deleted my profile because I don't want my pictures floating around on that site anymore... not that I didn't post them on my blog, but still... I find that there is a bit of a negative connotation associated with that site, and I'm not going to pay for the service so really, it would be pointless for me to keep it.

Anywho... just thought I'd fill you guys in on it!  Yay to being accepted... so shallow though ha ha ha.

Oh yeah, I bought Christmas lights for on our new house the other day!!  I'm getting a tree tomorrow on sale for $40!!  (If they have any left when we get there) I'm so excited!!  That means that I could plausibly spend another $30 on decorations for it and still be in my budget!  (I'm getting a check back from insurance from a massage I got a few days ago and I told myself that I was only allowed to spend that amount on the tree and lights & decor)

I can't wait for Christmas, I'm getting so excited!!!

So far so good...

So the last time I logged in was this morning and I had 26 hrs left in my "rate me" part of the beautifulpeople.com experiment I am doing... and I've got one friend! LOL... apparently there are like 20,000 joining every day so the people who are already members don't really get the chance to vote on everyone, so it's nice that I've already be rated. We'll see if I get that final acceptance email! LOL

Hilarious.

Uploading my pic to beautifulpeople.com

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.

Oh I'm sorry... I'm just in the process of uploading my picture to my beautifulpeople.com profile and I can't stop laughing because of all of the little comments that are all over the website letting you know that you don't have to sift through ugly people in order to find someone that's attractive, because everyone's hot on this site! LOL!!

Okay... so once it has been completed I will let you know whether or not I was accepted or rejected from the beautiful people website.

I uploaded the three pictures in this post to be judged by the male members already accepted onto the site.  I had to add the one with me doing the wink & gun cause I thought it was hilarious.

It's funny, because if you think about it, new members have to be accepted by current members.... so who started it?  At the beginning did the one guy who created it just pick people for the site... or did he pick a bunch of people and then slowly sift through them to figure out who he thought was beautiful or not?  LOL... I'm sorry but I keep thinking about Peter Griffin when he has lipo suction and becomes one of the "beautiful people" and doesn't wait in lines at grocery stores... and enters through different doors than everyone else LOL

This site promises that you will be invited to private parties with only beautiful people ha ha ha... so that means that only you and the two other people in your region who signed up will be at the party!  This is hilarious... BUT, I might have a huge ego boost in the next couple of days!

I will let you know how I do.

Beautiful People.... .com

Beautifulpeople.com. That's right, it actually exists... a virtual way to exclude people for not being "beautiful" enough. Apparently the way it works is that you set up a free profile and it is on the site for 48hrs and members of the opposite sex vote on whether or not you are accepted to the site. (I guess there are also no gay people allowed because they don't get to vote on other members of the same sex). Oh and did I forget to mention that it's a dating site? Yeah, so "beautiful people" flocking together in groups is not that far off from the truth.

The voting buttons are as follows:

Yes, Definitely!
Hmmm, yes ok.
Hmmm, no not really.
No definitely not!

How sad would that be if you put your photo seriously on here and you got a bunch of Hmmm, no not really's and No definitely Not's! LOL.

The funny thing is, that I should be apalled that they would even make a website like this but in fact I'm curious about whether or not I would be accepted. I am thinking about posting a profile to this site just to see whether or not I get accepted. Apparently only 24% of Canadian women have been accepted to the site based on however many have applied (and really, who knows what kind of people are uploading their pics to this site), and only 23% of Canadian men. I want to bring up those stats! JK, I just seriously want to see how many no's and how many yes's I would get if I tried.

Germany is apparently does not have very good stats on the site due to the grim expressions people are posting in their profile pictures, no smiles... all seriousness. I find that the most hilarious thing because why would you even bother posting a picture in that case, you might as well write off your acceptance from the get go.

SO, I will definitely keep you guys updated as to whether or not I bring up the Canadian stats, or whether or not I will be slighting depressed for a few days ha ha ha. Just kidding, who knows who's even voting on your picture and how many people actually voted.

Another update: putting in an offer on a house tomorrow evening! I will let you know whether or not I will be moving into my first home or if I will have to continue the search!

Have a good one!

Tomorrow!!!

HELLO HELLO HELLO!

We're going to look at houses tomorrow!!! I'm getting really excited for the first house we're going to see because if we like it we're going to put in an offer as soon as we can! It would be perfect for the two of us, it's on 5.5 acres and it's super close to the city. It was built only like 30 years ago (which is a lot newer than some of the other houses we've looked at that were built in the early 1900's) so that means that the setup is going to be a lot better than the other houses although that also means 70's construction so wood paneling lol.

I'm so excited!!!

(So, knowing this... you guys might be receiving a depressed post from me tomorrow or Sunday if we don't end up liking it lol)

OR... even worse, we like it and then next week when they're accepting offers we don't get it. That will be an even more depressing post to read... Beware.

Bring on the Houses!!

So yeah, as you've probably guessed by the title of this post, my boyfriend and I are in the process of looking for our first house... EVER! We've looked at 5 houses so far and none of them suit our fancy so we are actually going to look at three more this weekend! (On Saturday!)

We're going to see a 1700 square foot house on 5.2 acres, a 1120 square foot house on 5.5 acres (a little closer to town) and then a 1530 square foot house on 1 acre that looks gorgeous! The 1530 square foot one is priced a little bit higher than we would like to pay, but it's been on the market for a long time so we're thinking they might go a bit lower, if we decide that we really really really like it. Otherwise, the other two are priced about $25,000 lower and are closer to the city so we're most likely going to go with them instead. I'm really excited about the first one we're going to see. It just popped up on the market yesterday and we jumped at the first possible chance we will have to see it. From the outside (yes, we did a creepy stalkerish drive by on our way home from looking at another house in the area) it looks super nice and we saw a bit of the inside because it is vacant and the real estate agent left one of the lights on. From the pictures of the house it looks like it would need a lot of updating because it was built in the 70's and it shows, but hopefully it is structurally sound and no other huge issues and then we will most likely buy it!!

I'm getting really excited to get a house and so is Rob. I'm hoping that there aren't too many other people looking at houses right now and that we don't get into a bidding war with anyone over this house. It would be nice to have some bargaining power if we really want it. Otherwise we may have to pay a little bit more and sacrifice a few things we wouldn't have wanted to ask for.

I'm getting excited though! Hopefully the end of our house hunting is near! I'm still saving up for the down payment but I can withdraw my RRSP's for the rest of it through the Home Buyer's Plan so we're okay. It's too bad that my boyfriend has a bunch of bills coming up right away so he'll just have to pay me back when he sells his cabin lot...

PS. The pictures from the photoshoot I did on Sunday should be emailed to me soon enough and I will hopefully have permission to post them on here for you guys!! Oh yeah, and it's super nice to not have any debt and to just be saving money with every cheque... this is the first time ever since I got my job that I have been able to do that and then I'm going to get a house and never know this feeling again lol

5200 views!! :)

WOW.... I can't believe it, and I've told like all of my friends. As you know, I've been doing Halloween Makeup tutorials for the past month on Youtube and I did one entitled "Hot Zombie Look" and it got over 5200 views! I still can't believe it and it's been over 2 days lol. I also now have 53 subscribers after Halloween! I'm going to have to keep that in mind for next year and start thinking about new tutorials I can do.



I've thought of a couple makeup looks I can do for my subscribers lol, that still sounds so funny to me, and possibly a few hair tutorials as well. I may have to use my sister for these ones so that I can accurately show the hairstyle in the video... and not me doing it super messy on my own head lol. I still need a new video editing software for my Mac though... because iMovie just doesn't cut it... I can't do a lot of things that I want to do. SO, if you know of anything, please let me know!

Quaterly Update :) LOL

Ha, it feels like I never update this thing but it's only been 10 days! I had originally planned to write something on here at least every two days, if not every day. I feel like I've been too busy lately to do anything though (and I'm not really that busy, I think I just feel like relaxing and doing nothing).

So, as you know, I've been uploading videos to Youtube over the past little while... I've done a few tutorials on Halloween Looks and they've been received well! My latest one, the Hot Zombie Look, already has 2500 views and I now have 40 subscribers!! I'm going to have to hold a contest when I hit 100 subscribers in order to get more and more lol. I'm going to have to think of different things to do now that Halloween is almost over though... maybe I will do some hair/nail/regular makeup tutorials... or I'll start the "Outfit of the Day" vlogs... I dunno, but it should be good. I see people who always do the "Hauls" like, if they were in West Edmonton Mall, they'll do a video on everything that they bought... or really whenever they head to the store... maybe I can do product reviews as well. I'm excited though... because there are now 40 people who want to see what I come up with next!

Halloween is tomorrow and I'm still not finished my costume! I've gotta get that done tonight... so, I'm not sure if I mentioned it on here, but I am going as a Zombie Bride. I've got the dress, the veil, black flowers, I've stained the dress (with spray paint) to make it look old and damaged, and now I just have to add the blood splatters and hand prints to complete it. Also, I'm going to have to rip it up strategically to make it look like as if its been through hell, literally.

I won't have time to do this, and then let it dry for tonight, but in the spirit of being a Zombie, I think I'm going to go as a Southern Belle Zombie tonight if we end up going somewhere... otherwise I'm not sure what I'm going to be! I should go as a Cullen, all I'll have to do is sprinkle sparkles all over my face lol... but I don't have the right contacts for that though!

UPDATE: I'm doing a photoshoot on Sunday for my friend's fashion line! It should be super fun, she's made a dress in my size, and a few other girls and I are going to be taking pics at the Rae and Jerry's lounge Sunday morning. Should be good times! I believe the line is going to be called Epic Friday Fashion Line. So far, from what I've seen, the dresses are pretty sweet so I'm really excited to see what she's come up with for me!

Daylight savings time is this weekend (Fall Back) so I'm hoping that I remember tomorrow night to switch my watch, alarm clock, etc. to the new time, so that I'm not late for everything on Sunday! It wouldn't be an issue normally, but I've got the photoshoot pretty early at 10am, and then I've got a hockey game right after... so I can't really show up an hour late, it will be halfway through the game then! (I can't forget to switch my car's time as well)

Well, the only other update that I should mention is the fact that I am once again trying to diet so that by Christmas I will be at least 10-15 lbs lighter, and hopefully a lot more toned and in shape. My work received 25 free passes to the Frank Kennedy gym at the U of M, so I've got one and I am going to attempt to go at least three times a week. Who knows how well that's going to go, but I will try none the less. I've started Weight Watchers again, this time I've got an email support group of sorts that is going to help a lot I think, it will help me stay on track because other people will know my progress. Although, it didn't help much the first week, I only lost 2 pounds (which is good, don't get me wrong, but usually the first week you start you lose like 4 lbs).

HOUSE HUNT UPDATE: We semi-offered a woman in St Anne $170,000 for a house, but she didn't appreciate that too much, so she's going to wait until spring to see if she can get any other offers before entertaining anything that low. I'm not really sure if we can offer her like $175,000 and maybe she'll actually counter offer this time but yeah...

We're going to look at a couple places next week... we were supposed to see one this weekend, but it turns out they are pushing back the showings to next week instead. Oh well, that makes for a less busy weekend for me then! I'll have time to get my pumpkins carved, and whatever last minute things I need to do for my costume... and then I have to do my sister's makeup, two of my friends' makeup, and then my brother is going as Guile (or Gyle, I'm not sure) from street fighter I believe, and he wants me to do his makeup lol.

I'm going to be super busy tomorrow that's for sure! I can't wait though, we are heading to a friend's wedding social. I hope there is a prize for best costume... I might actually win this year!!

Slacker

Man I have really been slacking on updating this blog... Okay, yes it's only been since Friday that I last posted, but before that it was forever ago! I would like to write every day if I could, but things just keep coming up and I usually don't want to power up my computer before bed when I get home just to update this.



Well, as you might already know, my boyfriend and I are looking for a house right now! I'm super excited, to say the least. We looked at a 2296 square-foot house on Sunday that we are really interested in buying! It's 20 mins outside of Winnipeg but right now that only makes for a 30 minute drive to work for me! AND... it's got a 9-person indoor hotub! It's huge... and with a little work it can actually look way bigger. It was built in like 1908 so it's set up kind of funny (in that it doesn't look at big as it should for being 2296 sqft). We're thinking that we are going to change a few things if we were to buy it.



First of all, the master bedroom is downstairs (an addition that was later added to the house) and it's got an onsuite bathroom and walk-in closet. We're thinking of taking the room upstairs that is WAY BIGGER and then turning the Master into a family room by taking out the bathroom and closet and opening up that wall to what they are currently using at a family room. I'm actually super excited at the prospect of getting this house. We looked at two others and were not impressed... and then we went to this one and it was overwhelming how much better it was! We're going to look at another house just a bit East of the city on Thursday so we'll see how we like that one. It's half the size but it's newer so it's probably going to be set up a lot better to make it seem a lot larger. It's around the same price as this one, closer to the city, but farther from my work (and Rob's work) because we work in the South End of the city close to the perimeter.



So, all in all, we're really excited, and we're thinking that we would want to make the possession date for January if possible so that we'd be nice and set up by then! My boyfriend actually used to work for CN Rail and is currently awaiting an arbitration to get his job back, hopefully with back pay! So... it's looking like either November or December for that... which would work out great if we had a huge boost of cash to fall back on. Right now we're thinking that we're going to split everything two ways... including the lump sum of our car payments and insurance... which, I'm not really sure is a good deal for me (because my car payments are way lower and will be done in a year and a half, versus his which he won't be done paying for for another four years!) but yeah...we'll see what we work out later on.



Well, I should get back to work, I've got a few shipments to unpack and a couple of things I need to get ready for this afternoon.



Ciao!

Female Cyborg Halloween Makeup!

Hello Hello Hello....

So last night my boyfriend was out playing cards with his buddies, so I figured it was the perfect time for me to do another makeup tutorial!

So this one was a Mac Face Chart that I found when I was looking for different Halloween looks to try... I figured I would give it a go since it looked pretty easy. It's not too bad, it would have taken me a lot less time if I wasn't filming the whole thing and putting my makeup on using the Photo Booth Video, as opposed to a mirror lol. But all in all, it turned out pretty good. My one issue with what I did was that I didn't blend the contouring as well as I should have. Oh well, if I were to do this look again that's what I would change.

Click Here to see the video tutorial on youtube.

Enjoy!

More Halloween Tutorials on Youtube!!

Hey guys...

So yeah, I have now successfully uploaded three Halloween Makeup Tutorials to Youtube!

Click Here to see my page.

I'm so excited because someone has actually subscribed to my channel... AND... there are a few good comments coming my way! I'm just excited to see that people are watching them... one of them has like 250 views! I'm going to attempt to do a few more before Halloween... maybe I'll try to do a few x-men character looks... there are some neat makeup ideas coming out of that show... then, I'm going to try and do a Queen Amidala look, and a Rainbow Bright Look (this one I will have to add the hair because I don't think there is a lot of makeup involved)

I'm super excited about them though!

-2 today!!

Holy Shizz, it was -2 this morning! It's supposed to be fall right now, but I think we're going to skip that and go straight to winter! I am sad to say that I brought out the mitts this morning... just thin ones, but seriously, I wore them last night at the arena (to watch the bf's hockey game) and they kept me super warm.

I think I'm going to try and enter a makeup contest on youtube, it's by Sharksbitoflife, and she's putting on a "Welcome to the Neighbourhood" contest, where you have to go out and take pictures of your street, or town, and then do a makeup look inspires by what you see... it's pretty interesing and I can't wait to give it a try! I'm really liking this youtube thing!!

It's a sad week in St Vital...

Well, I don't really know how to put into words how sad this past weekend has been. One of the community's greatest hockey coaches passed away on Friday night of a heart attack while on his way home.

Ron Smith was one of the nicest, most caring individuals I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I was fortunate enough to have played hockey with his daughter and to have him as my coach for several years. We always knew that Ron was there looking out for us whether it be hockey, or our every day lives. He helped both of my older brothers get jobs, and got them and my boyfriend out of trouble a few times while at those jobs! He was like a second hockey dad to me. He's touched a lot of people's hearts in Winnipeg and he will be dearly missed by all.

The funeral is tomorrow morning at 11:00am at the Westwood Community Church off Portage Avenue. It should be a packed house, so get there early if you would like to get a seat.

Rest in Peace Ron... we'll miss you and we all love you very much!

My First Halloween Makeup Tutorial: Girly Corpse Look!

Hey guys...

SO... I decided last night after I got home that I was going to try out a few things and hopefully come up with something for my Halloween costume. Well, I didn't come up with anything that I'm going to use... but I did come up with a pretty good corpse look... AND, I uploaded it to youtube!!

Check it out!

Click Here to be redirected.

Thanks!

I'm on Youtube!!

Hey Everyone,

(Everyone meaning like two people)

I uploaded my first video to youtube last night! I actually ended up uploading 4 vids last night, just a cute one of some kittens I videotaped following my mom's hand at the pet store, and then one of Oscar (our big orange cat) getting high off catnip and acting super weird. Then I uploaded an old video of my brother's band playing at the Zoo, and one of local band Tele when I saw them at the Park Theatre back in March.

I'm thinking about starting to do makeup tutorials and stuff like that on youtube... we'll see how well I do. I actually just really want to get into editing videos and that sort of stuff, so I've been reading up on how to edit videos in iMovie. Any other suggestions for programs I should check out for Macs, please comment! I'm looking at you D!

Well, here's the youtube channel page if you're interested... I've got one subscriber already! LOL... saw the cute kitten video and hit subscribe I guess!

Click Here to be redirected to my youtube page.

New Moon Trailer...

Watch it.

SO GOOD!!!

Zombie/Vampire Makeup...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LJoTCuVMv4

This is the next makeup idea that I am going to try... once I go out and get myself a new liquid eyeliner... actually, at the moment I don't really have a good pencil eyeliner either! Dollarama and Wal-Mart here I come! (PS. the dollarama 2-pack black eyeliners that come with sharpening caps are the best eyeliners I've had!)

Mustaches!!!

Here are some pictures from the party this weekend out at my cabin.  Below is a picture of a bunch of us playing the "Mushroom" drinking game.  You have to guess whether or not the card you are about to pick up is going to be black or red, and then if you get it wrong, you have to drink and then place the card (with at least two edges off of the stack) onto the beer bottle.  If you guess right, you get to make someone else do it.  AND... if you knock the pile off the beer bottle then you have to finish your whole drink.  Super fun... except when you have a shaky table and a bunch of people playing twister right beside you!

 It was my brother's birthday and he decided that he wanted to have a Mustache Party.  Also, to make sure that everyone followed the theme, he had a bowl of mustaches at the door and if you weren't wearing one you had to grab one out of the bowl! 

It was actually pretty fun, except for the fact that we had some pretty cheap mustaches on, so after about an hour, it would sweat underneath them and they'd start to fall off... throughout the night my mustache moved to my chin and turned into a beard... all in all, a good time though!  I loved my eyebrows lol.

And yes, I was also sporting a bowler hat to complete my Charlie Chaplin look!

SO MUCH FUN!!

Leopard Makeup!!!

I was bored tonight after I got home from the cabin... and I decided to try out a tutorial on leopard makeup for halloween... here's what I came up with...

Ha ha ha.. yes, I'm weird.  I just got back from a Mustache Party.... pictures to follow.

Bored at work on a Friday??

Hey Guys,

Well, you probably have already guessed that I'm at work right now, and extremely bored. I've got half an hour to go, and I've just finished up all the work I had laid out for myself today.

SO, naturally, like any hard-working Canadian, I'm browsing the Internet. To be a little more specific, I'm actually googling "Websites for Bored People" LOL!

Here's what I found... pretty hilarious that there are so many out there, but this guy has a top 5 websites... and they're pretty hilarious. I'm about to check them all out before I leave I'm pretty sure.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/339574/the_5_best_im_bored_websites.html?cat=15

ENJOY!

Keane at the Burton Cummings Theatre

Keane Concert September 16th, 2009!!Image found at: http://artists.letssingit.com/keane-5sd7l/pictures/294573/1

Hello All,

As you know from my last post, my sister and I decided to buy tickets to see Keane at the Burton Cumming Theatre this past Wednesday. WOW is all I can say. We arrived promptly at 7:30 only to realize that we had missed the first band (Lindi Ortega?) and Lights was on stage.

Lights opened up the show (for us) with an amazing set. She was electric and put on a great show. She played about 7 or 8 songs which is great for an opening band and actually had a lightshow prepared as well which made it all the more interesting. Seeing her live actually made me want to purchase her CD or some merchandise in order to show my support. She also was hanging out with fans after the show in the lobby area and by the merchandise tables.

KEANE!!! They put on an amazing show and kept the audience entertained the entire time! With hits such as "Last Time" and "Somewhere Only we Know" the band rocked the house. They also kept the crowd involved with some witty banter in between songs. I thouroughly enjoyed the band, and am going to see them the next time they are in town, whenever that may be.

Just a side note: as with the Franz Ferdinand Concert, we ended up sitting only one row behind one of my close friends... so weird how coincidences happen.

I took a couple pictures at the show, but they didn't turn out so well, so I didn't bother posting them.

Honourable Mention: Keane did a cover of "Under Pressure" by Queen and it was AMAZING!! It's funny, because throughout the show my sister and I had commented that he sounded like the lead singer from Queen. SO GOOD!

We might as well be strangers in another town...

I am heading to the Keane concert tonight with my sister!! Should be a good time! They're playing at the Burton Cummings Theatre, which is always good sound, and Lights is opening up for them.

I will review the concert tomorrow and hopefully I will have gotten a few good pics at that point.

The Dope Show.

So it occurred to me a few weeks ago that Marilyn Manson was coming to town and I absolutely could not miss that. I bought tickets (and actually took my mom with me, she loves him) and went to the show this past Sunday.

Well, to my disappointment, there were little to no theatrics that years of watching and listening to Marylin Manson had led me to believe there would be. He's getting old I guess, but that's no excuse! I expected to see some crazy makeup, outfits, stage... but all I got was an old man wearing a bit of makeup and some black boots. Oh yeah, did I mention that he's got a pot belly now? Interesting... doesn't quite go with his facade.

Now, I wouldn't be saying any of this IF despite the lack of a "stage presence", he had actually played all of his hits... but out of all of the songs that he chose, he only played three of the more popular ones. "Sweet Dreams", "The Dope Show", and I can't even remember the third.... maybe it was "Beautiful People" but I can't remember it being very good if it was.

I was expecting to at least hear my favourites, "Personal Jesus" and "The Nobodies"... OR, his newest tunes... such as "Heart Shaped Glasses"!! What gives? Who plans a set list that way?

And to top it off, there was a riot after the show. I'm not really sure what the story was, but apparently almost every cop car in Winnipeg was at the MTS Centre that night! Luckily, we went out the back as to avoid all that nonsense.

All in all, I give him a 2 out of 5 stars on the Megan scale. It was cool to see him, but it definitely was not worth the money we forked out.

I would post pictures fromt the show, but I couldn't really get any good ones from where we were sitting.

Debbie Downer

Okay so I'm not really a Debbie Downer today... I was just going to say that this weekend made me realize that I really really really really really need to get started on my weight loss soon! We were trying on a few things and the sizes that fit me were not what they used to be. One size up from the last time we went shopping in the states to tell you the truth. It's been a few months but I think I've packed on about 5-7lbs and I would like to get rid of them.

I started Weight Watchers again today (I know, I know... this time I will stick with it... yeah, I said that last time too) and so far it's going well. Breakfast and lunch were only 9 pts total so that leaves a decent amount of points left for the evening. I also just finished lunch, which is later than normal for me so I shouldn't be as hungry going into supper... or, I might eat later and therefore I won't be as tempted to snack afterward.

I am going to workout tonight as well! I'm thinking either Slim in 6, or 30-day Shred. I haven't decided yet.

Also, I still haven't taken any pictures of the clothes I bought while I was in Grand Forks and Fargo so I will have to do that as well. I just always end up getting really busy at night, and then hanging out with the bf so I don't end up doing what I say that I am going to. So, I will try to get those pictures tonight, if not tonight, then tomorrow night.

I posted one of my paintings on usedwinnipeg.com and someone is interested already! (I put it up yesterday afternoon and apparently 348 ppl had browsed the ad, and 20 ppl had opened it up) I am definitely going to start selling other things on there... screw garage sales... online garage sale is the way to go! I've got a few dresses I would like to sell... and possibly some tops, or purses... I could make a few bucks!

WEDDING DRESS!!

Ha ha ha... now that I GOT YOUR ATTENTION... I'll tell you about my weekend...

My mom and I decided that we were due for a shopping trip in Grand Forks/Fargo... so we went this past weekend (got back tonight as a matter of fact).  

Well... the weekend was great, bought a lot of nice stuff (pics will be posted later once I take some...) but the funniest part of the trip was the wedding dress I tried on!!  I decided that I am going to go as Tim Burton's the Corpse Bride for Halloween this year (Yes I know, so 3 years ago, but I love it!) anywho... so we decided to take a look in one of the many thrift stores Grand Forks has to offer, and the first one we went in had a wedding dress in it's garment bag, hanging in the window.  It turned out to be the only wedding dress they had in the store... and it was $100.  Beautiful dress, not a Halloween Costume in any way, shape, or form.  BUT, my mom was like: "You should try it on anyway!  It will be fun!"

So... I tried it on... and it fit like a glove!  I actually have a feeling that I may have jinxed myself now... now when I am actually going to be looking for a wedding dress, I won't be able to find one that looks that good on without crazy alterations and garbage.  So, we took a few pics on my phone and I have posted them for your viewing pleasure.  

Oh yeah, and even though I thought it would be CrAzY if I bought a wedding dress before even being engaged, I tell my boyfriend about it and he's like: "You should have bought it!  My sister's wedding dress was like 8 times the price and it didn't look that good!"  DAMN IT.  That is all.

Franz Ferdinand Concert and Other Stuff...

So the concert turned out to be awesome!  I don't even really listen to Franz Ferdinand, I kinda got sick of them after a while but man was there music ever good live!  Everyone was into it and the singer brought the crowd into the show so well.  It was great... unfortunately I did not bring my camera along in order to post a picture of the show, but just know that it was definitely worth seeing!

As for the rest of what's going on these days... well, my bf put in an offer on a place just outside the city (Wpg) with the condition that he sells his cottage lot in Seven Sisters Falls first.  We've got until the end of September to sell the place and buy the house... so we'll see what happens, but I am definitely already thinking of what colours I want in each room and how I'm going to decorate.  (Not gonna lie, I was in Wal-Mart today and I picked up some darker blue towels, and some brown ones... I'm thinking Blue, Brown and Cream bathroom!)  I'm so excited!  I haven't been able to decorate anything since my room like 3 years ago... I've got the itch!

I had a few of my girlfriends over tonight... so good!  We haven't seen each other in a while... some longer than others... and we had a bonfire in the backyard which turned out to be great.  I brought my collection of hard liquors (I buy a bottle every time I go down south) and mixes and we started off the night with Kelsey's Classic Cocktail... the Purple Rain.  It was fun... we went from about 8pm to 1am.  It was great catching up with everyone and I am definitely going to throw another bonfire party again soon.

Tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous here in the Peg so I am definitely going to spend some time outside tanning during the day and then my mom and I are heading to Grand Forks tomorrow afternoon until Monday night for the holiday.  We're also going to hit up Fargo on Sunday and go to Burlington Coat Factory!! (One of my favourite stores!)

I love going to Burlington, Gordman's, Target, and believe it or not, JC Penny, they've got great deals.  This time around I am looking for work attire (and possibly a few casual tops) and then stuff for moving out.  I've gotta start stocking up and Gordman's has a lot of great stuff!

Well, I should head to bed because it's after 2am here right now...

I'll post pictures of what I got when I get back!!

Have a great long weekend everyone!!!

Franz Ferdinand Tonight!!

Hello All...

Definitely going to check out Franz Ferdinand tonight... no clue who the opening band is... but they are most likely going to be decent.

I will post pictures later and let you know how it was... hopefully get a little video for ya... but they're always watching for that, so maybe not!

Gray Makeup!! Pics...

Hello Hello...

Well, as promised... here are the gray/metallic makeup pics I was talking about earlier today.  

I'm not gonna lie though... I don't have a lot to say about it...

What I used:

Wal-mart eye pencil in dark gray.  (I'm not sure what the brand is)  I covered my lid with this to make the eyeshadow stick.

Silver eyeshadow on the lid.

Charcoal eyeshadow in the crease and worked my way upward to the brow bone.

Shimmer eyeshadow close to the colour of my skin for the brow bone... and for blending with the charcoal.

Highlight (shiny white metallic eyeshadow) for just under the brows and in the inner corners of the eyes.

And then as usual (or as in this and the pink looks) I put my body shop bronzer and nyc blush on to complete the look.

Enjoy!  Please comment.

More Makeup!! (Grays...)

I took a few pictures yesterday... and I will add them on here hopefully tonight... but yeah... I did a gray look yesterday... kind of a smokey eye, pretty dramatic... I will post pictures later on tonight if I get the chance. I hope you like it!

MAKEUP!!

So... lately I have been watching a lot of youtube makeup tutorials... and I started to try a few out on myself... today I decided to do a pink look that I saw in one of the videos.  I think I did a pretty good job... 

Open-eyed view of today's pink look.  I used the 88 Palette by Coastal Scents... there are many pinks on the palette but I only ended up using two of them and then I used a light purple, and dark blue for shading.  Then... my trusty MAC white shiny eyeshadow for highlighting.

You can really see the different colours I used in the picture above.  I had a lot of fun creating this look and I hope you can try it out for yourself.  The key is really blending... never leave a harsh line in your makeup... blending is your friend!

Here's a shot of the finished look... as I mentioned above... I used the 88 palette colours for eyes, and then I lined the upper lash line and waterline with black eyeliner for effect.  On my cheeks I used Body Shop's Bronzing Beads (Valentine's Day Gift from the BF a few years back... still got em!  They're great!) for contouring, and then a mixed Blush Palette I picked up a Wal-Mart for super cheap on the apples of my cheeks.  Finished it off with a pink gloss that I would tell you where it was from, but I've had it forever and I forget... 

Enjoy!

This is the video I was talking about in my last post.  It is of the CN train that goes by about 5 times a day right in front of the cabin out in Niddrie.  Niddrie is one of those old CN towns that now have been turned into cabins for descendants of old CN Trainmasters and conductors.  It's pretty neat actually, I guess the only way out to this place used to be by train, but now there are logging roads that lead us just close enough to off road the rest of the way.  Pretty neat to be in the middle of nowhere with no running water, no electricity... no other people.  Crazy.

BAD....

Okay... so I've been really bad... apparently I haven't been following my diet for the last few days... I went away for the weekend until yesterday and I went completely nuts with the beer, chips, steak, chicken dinner... the whole lot!  

Today (Tuesday... yes it's like 12:30 in the morning...) is going to be my new Day 1!  I'm horrible at this apparently, but I have to keep trying.  Good news is, I didn't gain any weight this week, bad news is that I didn't lose any either.  I'm going to stay positive though and hope for the best from now on.  I don't have any more trips planned, because I know those are the worst for stay on the diet... so yeah, I should be fine.  

I attached a picture from this weekend... I went to my bf's friend's cabin in the middle of nowhere in Ontario.  We literally had to go about 45 mins off the highway on logging roads, and then off-road for about 30 mins before getting to a parking spot in the bush where we then had to climb onto the train tracks and walk about a half-mile up the tracks to the cabin, which is about 50 feet away from the tracks!  It's kind of funny actually, because there are trains that go by about 5 times a day, sometimes more, and they always wave and honk the horn ha ha ha.  I took a video to show how close we were to them when we were in the front yard.  You can't really see very well because they go by at about 50 miles an hour I think... so like 70-80km/hr.  Pretty fast when they're that close to us.  I'll post that video when I'm finished writing this one.  It was beaut

iful out there though, no one around us, beautiful lakes, trees, no buildings.  It was great... except for the fact that we had to wash in the lake... which was freezing this weekend!  And the mosquitos were horrible!  I have so many bites on my legs it looks like I have a disease!

I caught my first fish this weekend too!  (First time I have ever been fishing!!)  I ended up catching the most fish out of all of us too!  (7 of them... two pickerel, and 5 jack fish)  Of course we had to through them all back, because the pickerel (walleye) were too small to eat, and apparently jack fish have lots of bones and you shouldn't eat them at this time of year... something about being wormy lol.

Day 9... August 18

Well, once again I did not post my points at the end of the day for yesterday... I was over at the bf's place watching a movie and falling asleep LOL. So naturally when I got home I just went straight to bed.

The points total for yesterday was 30, so I have used another 7 flex points which puts me down to 24 for the week. This week's flex points are moving out a lot faster than last week that's for sure!

Today's been an ok day so far... went out for lunch and had a whole grain individual pizza for which I only ate 4 or 5 small pieces... so that's probably about 8 or 9 pts max... I will confirm later... and then I had a couple pieces of chocolate afterward... I will let you know!

PS... now the mortgage plan is to possibly get one under his name, and one under my name (which I would rent out in order to afford half of his mortgage as well... equity equity equity!)

Could be good times... we'll see what we can afford.

Day 8... First Day of week 2!

Good Morning!



(Well, as good as it can be when you're as tired as I am...) I went out with 5 girls that I haven't seen since highschool last night and I stayed out way too late! I have to get up fairly early in the morning to go to work and therefore when I go out on a weekday I always end up not getting enough sleep. I'm definitely looking forward to going to be super early tonight!



Well, I am posting my points from yesterday just now, because obviously I was out last night so I didn't have the chance.

So here we go:

Pear 2pts
Freezie 2pts
Soup 2pts
Crackers 3pts
Ham 4pts
Veggies 1pt
Potato 4pts

Then later on....

2 beers 6pts
Chips&Salsa 3pts

For a grand total of 27 pts! So that means that I am using 4 flex points for yesterday... so I am down to 35 flex points for the week.

Wish me luck!

Day 7 & Weigh In Day!!

I weighed myself this morning... and guess what??? I've lost 4 pounds so far!!! I am so excited! I can't wait to see what I lose this week.

Today starts off the second week of my weight loss journey, and as such I start off the week with a new set of 35 flex pts to use as I wish. So far all I have had for breakfast is a pear (2 pts) but I do have some chicken noodle soup stashed away in my desk for just such an occasion.

I am supposed to go out for drinks tonight with a few girls I haven't really seen since elementary school, so I will have to save some points for a beer. I am so tired today though because I was out last night with a few of my girlfriends (at the potluck/movie night) and I didn't fall asleep until 1:30am! I am definitely going to have to leave the lounge early tonight!

Also, I kind of want to watch "I love you man" tonight... so I am going to leave early anyway so that I can convince my boyfriend to watch it with me! (Plus I haven't hung out with him for a few days, so it's about time we got some cuddling in!)

I should find out today whether or not we were pre-approved for the mortgage... I am going to call the bank this morning once they are open and find out what's going on. I hope we are approved, then we can seriously start looking at houses!! We found a few that we are interested in, just outside the city, huge, and really cheap for what they are! I am so excited at the possibility of moving out with him!!!

I will let you know later what's going on.

Cheers to week 2 and 4lbs lost!!

Day 6 & 7....

Well, as you can tell, I haven't had a chance to get on here to blog about my last couple days of the diet... well, it was interesting this weekend, that's for sure.

First of all, Saturday (Day 6) I started off the day okay, with a 6" Ham Sub fromm Subway... and I made meatloaf (with extra lean beef) for dinner, but then I made Cottage Cheese Cresents... and had two of them... I'm not actually positive how many points they are each... so I went with 3, even though they are fairly small.

Then Sunday (Yesterday) I once again started off the day ok, with soup... but then by the time lunch rolled around I was so ridiculously hungry... I ate the other half of my chicken wrap from Friday with the leftover hashbrowns as well and I was still hungry! I actually went to a potluck (the worst thing you can do when you're trying to lose weight) last night, and ate some seafood pasta (not a cream sauce, so not so bad for me) and then a broccoli salad, some deviled eggs, and then once again, the Cottage Cheese Cresents... they are going to be the death of me.

But, in all the excitement this weekend, and me just being lazy, I didn't really keep track of my points... so I don't have a points list for you today... I know, it's pretty bad. I am going to start again today though!

Day 5

Well today was almost a write-off... I was doing so well... I started off the day with soup as usual, but then of course the bf decides that we have to go out for lunch... it's so easy for him to convince me when I haven't eaten out in two weeks... so we end up going out to Michael P's.  I didn't know what to get so I ended up with my usual which is a chicken wrap and hashbrowns.  I know, super bad right?  Well, I only ate half of the wrap and half of the hashbrowns!  I'm so proud of myself for holding back.

So... as it stands.. today's points are the following:

Soup 2 pts

Chicken 3 pts

Cheese 2 pts

Tort 2 pt

Bacon 2 pts

Mayo 2 pts

Supper:

Pulled Pork Sandwich

Meat 7 pts

Pita Bun 2 pts

Coleslaw 3 pts

For a grand total of 25 pts.  The day is not over... so I will let you know if I have anything else... but as it stands that is another 2 flex points used.  So now I am down to 23 flex points I believe.  And I've got two more days to use them!

Although the diet is going well, I still have yet to work out!  So... today is the day!!  I'm going to do the Start it Up routine from the Slim in 6 library.  I hope it's a goodie!

Day 4!!

I think today might have been the best of all so far... I was pretty hungry this evening, but I had a few points left in order to grab a snack.  Long story short, after supper I was only at 19 pts... so after eating some popcorn with spicy sauce (yeah that's right lol) and a piece of cheese... I finished the day off at 22 pts.  1 pt under my allowed amount!!  I'm starving now, but I will be good in the morning.. plus, I think I might just need to drink a little bit of water.  I might just be thirsty... I didn't drink very much today.

So... we went in for the pre-approval for a mortgage... and surprise surprise... my credit score (Scotiabank Internal Scoring System) was an A, and the bf's was a C.  So, naturally, there is some skepticism as to whether or not we will be approved for the amount of $289,000.  That is what we could possibly be approved for according to our application... we'll only need $200,000 for this first house though... maybe a bit less... I want to buy somewhere in the range of $150,000 to $175,000 but the mortgage payments on a $200,000 are definitely doable.  They figured it out for us, with all the extra taxes and fees, it would work out to around $1,085 a month... and for two of us, that's only like $550 each... plus all of our bills and a little extra to save up... definitely doable right now... and when he starts making a bit more money, then it will be excellent!

I'm very excited at the possibility of having my own place and I cannot wait to throw the housewarming party!!

Pre-approval for a Mortgage!!

I almost forgot... I made an appointment for this afternoon to speak with a mortgage specialist at Scotiabank! My boyfriend and I are going to see how much we are pre-approved for, what options we have, and what would suit us best... I can't wait to see if we can move out together!! I'm very excited as you can tell... I would love my own place!

Day 3...

Hello All,

Day 3 went well once again. I didn't get a chance to blog about it yesterday though as I couldn't sign in for some reason and then I forgot to go back and check later on because my mom and I went to the beach after work! We were there from 5pm until 8pm and it was still packed! The sun was out for most of it and we were in the water and everything. So many people though, I think everyone took the day off because it was so nice and then didn't want to leave because no one knows when we'll see weather like that again... for sure not this weekend!

Well, here's the points count for yesterday...

Soup 2 pts
Salad 7 pts
Grapes 1 pt
Rice Crispie 2 pts (Snack bar)
Cucs & Dip 1 pt
Rice Cakes 2 pts
Beer 2 pts
Taco:
1/2 c beef 3 pts
Cheese 1 pt
Sour Cream 2 pts
Tortilla 2 pts

For a grand total of 25 pts. If you're wondering about the beer... and why it's not 3 pts, I actually only drank about half to 3/4 of it... it was warm after that and I poured the rest out... at the beach lol.. ;)

So... that's 2 more flex points used... which leaves me with 25 flex points. I'm likin' this... using less than 5 flew points a day in these first few days it going to leave me with some leway for the weekend... and we all know that it's hardest to be on a dieat on the weekends, there's way too much to do and way too many delicious foods to tempt us!

I will say, a few of my favourite foods while on weight watchers are: Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup (Only two points for the whole thing!), Diet Coke (Because you can drink one in the afternoon and it will tide you over until dinner at 0pts!), and then popcorn (only 1 point for 3 cups of it! Obviously not the buttery kind, but microwavable popcorn is ok if you get the light stuff).

Well... day 4 is already here... and I'm starting the day off with some soup yet again! Wish me luck!

Day 2... a success yet again!

Well, it's day two.  Actually, it's bedtime on day two.  Today was good... started off the morning right with a bowl of soup for breakfast... Here were my points for the day:

Soup 2 pts

Sandwich 5 pts

Grapes 1 pt

Salsa & Chips 3 pts

Diet Coke o pts

Green Tea 0 pts

Homemade Taco:

3/4 cup of lean beef 4 pts

Tort 2 pts

Cheese 2 pts

Sour Cream 2 pts

So that puts me at 21 pts.  And then of course, I had to have a piece of the delicious apple crunch I made yesterday (Damn my bf, he's a bad influence)

So... I have two points left, those will go to the piece.. and then another 4 of my flex points.  It was a bigger piece than yesterday.

So, after yesterday and today, I am left with 27 flex points for the rest of the week.

I've already made my lunch for tomorrow which is good, because if I don't make a lunch ahead of time I always end up picking up food or going out with my bf for lunch... BAD move.

I'm going to try to start working out tomorrow... I wanted to give myself a little bit of a diet boost first before I started working out.

Day 1 of my Weight Loss Journey...

Well, day one was a success!!

Here's my food journal for the day:

Breakfast 5 pts

Lunch 9 pts

4oz Steak 7 pts

Small Potato 2 pts

Veggies 0 pts

Diet Coke 0 pts

Green Tea 0 pts

For a total of 23 pts.  Then, I used 4 of my flex points for the tiniest piece of homemade apple crunch that Rob made me make for him lol.  I was only allowed like two to three bites of that stuff... way too much sugar!

So... at the end of day 1, I am now down to 31 flex points.  Not bad for the first day... usually I'm starving!!  

Here's looking ahead to day 2!

Warm Weather... FINALLY

Hello All,

I couldn't leave without mentioning the fact that we are supposedly going to be getting some nice weather starting today! (Weird for this summer)

This weekend is supposed to be gorgeous with temperatures reaching the high twenties and possibly over 30 degrees celcius! I'm very excited and I am for sure heading to the beach!!
PS. For all of you out there who do not have the bikini body but would like a bathing suit that allows you to tan your full back, and a lot of your front, I found one at Tommy Hilfiger. It ties up in the back like a bikini would, except that it looks like a one piece in the front. My favourite bathing suit ever!! I've gotten a lot of compliments on it actually and I'm way more comfortable in it than I have ever been in any two-piece!

On a completely unrelated note...

I decided that since working out in the evening works best for me, and I hate showering twice in one day... that I would only shower at night... and therefore, since I have to look presentable at my job... I've been figuring out different ways to do my hair each day... yesterday I braided it so that I woke up with crimped/wavy hair... today, I finally purchased my first set of foam rollers... I'm going to try them out, if they take too much effort for the result I get... then I will definitely retire them.

I hope my hair turns out awesome.

Before Pictures... :(

Hello Hello Hello. So, because of my most recent trip to a place called "I need to lose weight already!", I've decided that I am going to start a workout program. This time around, I am also going to keep track of what I am eating (A la Weight Watchers Points Program) and then I will track my progress with all of you in hopes that it will motivate me to keep it up! Today is Day 1 and I am currently at work, all I have eaten today so far is a freezie and a cup of coffee. (Yes, that's right, a freezie. I have a few stashed away in the freezer at work and I definitely got up late today so that is all I have for options for breakfast.) I will be keeping track of what I am eating, and updating you on my progree as I go. Just for your reference if you are not familiar with the Weight Watchers plan, because of my current weight, I am allotted 23 pts per day, plus another 35 flex points that I can spread throughout the week however I would like to do so. The flex points do not carry forward into the next week, so if I don't use them, I lose them. Also, by doing vigourous exercise I can add points to my daily total. I believe if I do half an hour of vigourous exercise I get an extra point. I will confirm that later when I have a chance to look at the program.

Just to give you an idea, the freezie is 2 pts and the coffee (b/c of coffee mate and a bit of sugar is 3 pts) So, starting off not too bad, 5 pts for breakfast. I packed my lunch today so I already know what I'm having at that time. Alphaghetti and weiners... Because Alphaghetti is 6pts and the weiners are 3pts, my lunch will be 9pts today. So, I'm already going to be at 14pts for the day going into supper.

I will let you know how I finish the day (as far as the workout I do, and the rest of the food) later on tonight.

Well, what's a workout diary without some before pictures... I took these pics with my computer's built in camera the other day. PS. This is embarrassing to me but I gotta do it!


I also find that you don't really know what you look like until you take a picture. I definitely thought I looked skinnier in the mirror! (It just so happens I have a "skinny mirror" in my room which might have contributed to the problem)


So I want all of you reading this, who are maybe going to workout along with me, to take before pictures of yourselves. Make sure you comment and let me know what workouts you are doing, or what meal plan you are following. We don't have that much summer left here, so it's about time we get this started! You don't have to share them, just take them and keep them somewhere so that you can look back at them and see your progress. Also, it's very good if you want to remind yourself why your doing this.


GOOD LUCK!

Slackin'

Sorry... I haven't really had a chance to update this blog in a while... I promise I will add something in the next few days though... and you know I will be updating everyone on the next cabin weekend coming up this weekend!

To Thine Own Self Be...

I was rifling through my old school stuff last night and I came across something interesting.

So my grade 12 English teacher made us write short stories about different moments in our lives that created a shift in our thinking... an epiphany if you will... and this is what I came up with:

To Thine Own Self Be...

The game of life is one that may seem easy, but to some, can come with extreme difficulty.  What I mean is, life is not always simple.  When it comes to teenagers, there is always something that lies hidden from everyone else but themselves.

 

Elementary school was when I first realized that life was not so easy.  It was about grade six, the same year that the girls started liking the guys.  Cooties were officially extinct and hormones were over abundant.  It was also the year of my first boyfriend.  Alright, before I tell you the story, I have to clear up a few things.  First of all, I'm not a bad person, and second, I was really young when this all happened.

 

Okay, so it was December 1996 and I had just purchased my first pair of skin-tight black dress pants.  They were all the rage back then and everyone who was anyone had a pair.  That was also the year I started hanging out with the so-called "popular" kids.  The two came hand in hand, I swear it all started with that pair of pants.  

 

I remember it like it was yesterday.  I had just arrived at Highbury School for my shops class and there was a group of girls that were known as the prettiest girls in 6th grade standing outside waiting for the bell to go.  Just as I had exited my mom's car, I heard one of the girls yell out to me.

 

"Hey Megan, those pants look awesome on you!"  It was one of the girls I talked to a little bit, but did not really know all that well.  Well, long-story-short, I ended up sitting at their table during class and when it was over we had already made plans to hang out on the weekend.

She introduced me to all the guys that weekend, one of which I already kind of had a crush on.  We'll just call him Tyler...

 

Moving on...

 

As I started hanging out with them more and more often, I had generated somewhat of a good reputation, and as a matter of fact, a couple weeks later I was asked to the Christmas Dance by Tyler himself.  I know what you're thinking; it's corny as hell, I mean, who goes to school dances anyway?  Well, when I was younger it was a very big deal.

 

And so the story goes, I ended up dancing with him just once, and a couple other guys throughout the festivities.  Only days later, I received a note in class telling me to meet him after school in the hallway where our lockers were located.  I knew exactly what was going to happen when I saw him standing there and to my surprise there were others standing around as well.  I was about to get asked out by one of the most popular guys in our grade!  I was really nervous and I'm sure everyone noticed because I barely talked at all.

 

Here's the thing... I didn't really like him enough to go out with him but then when the moment came, I froze.  I didn't want to seem like a loser and I didn't want to embarrass him in front of his friends, so I accepted.  That was a big mistake on my part.  I mean, I had absolutely no interest in the guy other than the pure need to be accepted by my peers so I was basically just going out with him in order to be considered "cool".  I know this sounds bad, but I have a feeling he just asked me because his friends had told him to, so we were even in that respect.

 

In the weeks that followed, we talked a few times on the phone but I really was just not that interested, and I'm sure he could tell.  After a couple of weeks, our relationship dissipated and we drifted further and further apart, as did my popularity.  I felt like every only liked me because of what I was wearing, and who I was dating.  This was not the life for me.  

 

It was right around the beginning of grade eight when I realized that there were people who liked me for me, and nothing else.  I had just met a couple other girls who had gone through similar situations, and we instantly formed a friendship.  When other girls had started smoking and drinking in order to be considered cool, we remained unaffected by the peer pressure in its entirety.  Eventually, once high school rolled around, that same group of girls had realized what we already knew, that the right people will like you for who you are, and not who you are trying to be.

 

Everyone always says that high school is when you first discover who you truly are.  I guess for me, I figured it out a little early and I was just waiting for a few others to catch up.  Soon enough, after having played my cards right, I ended up a social butterfly of sorts.  I did not disrespect anyone, and I was nice to everyone.  I realized that it's not about how cool you are or whom you hang out with, it's about accepting everyone and being the best that you can be, without trying to be someone that you are not.

 

There's no use in changing the way you play the game in order to be accepted on to someone else's team.  Do your best, and the rest will come.  Be true to yourself and I guarantee that someone will think of you as their most valuable player.

Well... that's it!  Keep in mind that I wrote this in grade 12... I tweaked it a bit as I was typing it out... but it's basically the same story...