What a week!
Between work, belly dancing, kickboxing, and birthday stuff, it's been a hell of a week!

Recycled balloons
Since it was my supervisor's birthday last week, he decided to recycle the balloons that his friend sent him, and passed them on to me. He added the personal touch by writing my name and "Happy Brithday" on a couple of balloons. Too bad he didn't have spell check... ;-)

Recycled cookies - well, not really...
Along with the balloons, he also got some cookies which he also passed on to me and made it more personal by writing my name on it. Eh, why not?!

Ritual Friday
After kickboxing, it was off to Irma's for our Sex in the City night. We were missing one member, but she was with us in spirit...

Happy Birthday to Me!
Finally, it was my birthday on Saturday. Yay! The big 3-0. The number one question that people asked me was "How does it feel?" Honestly, I don't feel any different. I still feel like I'm 12 - just kidding =P! But really, how am I supposed to know what it feels like to be 30, when I haven't experienced being 30? I think people should ask that question when the person turns 31, and then maybe the response will be different?

Anyway, I had to go in to work that morning. I know, I should get my birthday off, but I kind of had no choice. Besides, it was only for a couple of hours anyway. When Irma got there, she surprised me with a mini birthday cake. I wasn't really paying attention to her at first, but then I heard her flicking her lighter and thought "uh, is she lighting a cigarette in here?" Apparently, she was lighting the candle on my mini cake. Duh!

Where's my spotlight?
I was a bit upset when I didn't get any mail/phone call from my relatives to wish me Happy Birthday. I know it might sound a bit shallow, but hey, it's my day so why shouldn't I expect these things? I mean, they've always acknowledged it every other year, so why stop now? Or do these kind of things stop when you hit 30? Even Irma was getting more phone calls than me and her birthday was 2 months ago!

Ring, ring, ring...
After work, I had planned on taking a nap so that I would be refreshed for the evening. Just when I'm about to doze off, the door bell rings. There was a flower delivery for me from my aunt and uncle. My mom put them in water for me, and I tried to go back to sleep (key word is tried). A few minutes later, the door bell rang again. This time it was my brother who came by to pick up some hockey tickets. And about 10 minutes after that, the phone rang. A friend of mine called to wish me happy birthday. We ended up chatting for a while because I hadn't talked to her since February. And about another 10 minutes after that, another friend of mine called. So much for worrying about my spotlight... =P

Birthday movie
Since I wasn't able to get a nap in, I got ready for the evening. Irma, Rick and I went to see Kill Bill. I must say, I liked that movie. Although I wasn't as tired as Irma was, it was pretty good. The only thing I didn't like was how they ended it. It just stopped. For a moment I thought that maybe a scene would come back on, but it was the credits. Now I definitely have to see the next one.

Surprise Dinner
After the movie, the three of us headed to Donna's for dinner. Joi and Phoun were meeting us there. I know, it doesn't sound like much for my 30th birthday, but I didn't want to make a big deal about it. I thought about doing a theme party, but with Mexico and all my other stuff, I couldn't find time to plan it. So I settled for dinner and a movie. Anyway, we got to the restaurant and as we walked in, one of the servers asked if we were with the "birthday party". I thought to myself "Birthday party?? There's only going to be 5 of us?!". Little did I know that Irma had planned a surprise dinner for me. I walked in and there were my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, and a few other friends. I was definitely surprised! The weird thing was, I kinda had a feeling that Irma was up to something when she talked to my co-worker and he started laughing and wrote things down on a piece of paper. I was tempted to look at what he wrote down, but I didn't. I even thought that maybe Irma planned a birthday party at this kid's restaurant because she mentioned it before. Thank goodness she didn't go with that plan. ;-)

Highlights:
• Hachi-chi-chi
  
• my moment
  
• cougar - no, not me, but it was a name of the drink I had at the restaurant =P

Party on
After dinner, it was off to the usual for some drinks. I admit, I had a few (OK, 5) but hey, it's my birthday. It ended up being a good night, compared to what happened last year. [Let's just say, I was carried out...]

3 more sleeps
Only 3 more sleeps until Mexico. I can't wait!! I'm starting to panic because I haven't packed yet. Ugh. I definitely have to do that tonight...

I really need to blog more...
...not because I have to, but to release some of this info in my brain to prevent it from crashing. I miss using this as an outlet to release my frustrations or to record the day's events. So, since it's been 2.5 weeks since I last blogged, here's a re-cap of what's happened:

• I got together with a friend mine who I haven't seen since the summer. We went out for brunch and it was nice to catch up on things. She had an emotional moment, but that's because she's pregnant.
  
• Thanksgiving dinner was at my aunt & uncle's house this year. There was about 15 of us, and we just had a quiet evening.
  
• I had a "me day" last week. I took the day off from work and did stuff for myself. The day consisted of running errands, hair appointment, picked up Mexico tickets (yay!), massage, and a bit of shopping. I need to have more days like this...
  
• I'm into day 9 of wearing my contacts. I dropped off my glasses at the optical place to get custom clip-ons for them. I was hoping they had my frame in stock so that I wouldn't have to give them my glasses. But since they don't carry my frame anymore, I'm stuck with wearing my contacts until next week. Ugh. They wouldn't be so bad if my eyes didn't get so dry. Eye-drops don't really help either.
  
• I've been to 3 belly dancing classes so far, and I'm having so much fun with it. We'll see if I go on to Level 1.
  
• Irma, Irene, Larry and I went to the corn maze this past Saturday, as part of my pre-birthday celebration, and it was a lot of fun. In order to find your way out of it, the maze was divided into 2 phases, where you had to find posts 1-5 and 6-10 by answering certain questions. Phase 1 (posts 1-5) was no problem. But we had a hell of a time trying to find post 6! I think it was because the whole maze was pretty much dried up and yellow, so the posts were somewhat camouflaged? Maybe next time we'll do it in the dark.
  
• I bought another swim suit for Mexico, which puts me at 3.5. I say 3.5 because the one top can be worn with another bottom. I'm contemplating on whether or not I should get another suit, or just get another bottom, or just stick with what I have? Decisions, decisions...

And now in current news...
The car search has been put on hold. I haven't made the time to shop around for insurance, so trying to get a new vehicle by the end of the month is pushing it. Perhaps I should focus on something else?

Birthday Lunch - Take 1
The one thing I like about birthdays is that everyone (well, almost everyone), wants to take you out for lunch/dinner/coffee/drinks/etc, but they all have different schedules, so you end up celebrating your birthday over a week or two. I had my first birthday lunch today, minus the person who was supposed to take me out. Raincheck. Luckily, my supervisor came with me, so I didn't have to eat alone.

Birthday Dinner - Take 2
My supervisor and I, along with two other co-workers, went out for some Thai food. As usual, there was way too much food, but it was so good! Thank goodness I was able to walk some of it off...

So how old am I turning?
Take a guess. OK, maybe not. But can you believe I'm actually turning 30?!?! I told my boss that and he didn't believe me. The weird thing was when I told him, it was only then that it sunk in that I was turning 30. Sure, I've mentioned it before that I was turning 30 this year, but it didn't finally hit me until I told him. I think it was because (i) I don't feel anywhere near 30, and (ii) since my boss is obviously older, the fact that I'm turning 30 kind of puts me in the same "age bracket" as him. It's like turning 30 puts you in this kind of "elite" group. I've heard somewhere before that as you get older, the gap between older people gets closer. Being 30 and associating with people up to 10 years older than you, is not as bad as being 10 and associating with twenty-somethings.

For now, I'm still 29...

10 more sleeps...
... until Mexico! Yay! I'm so looking forward to this vacation and relaxing. I mean, I'll be doing stuff but it'll be more laid back. I really need to start packing soon. I was planning to do it over the weekend, but it didn't happen. I definitely have to do it this weekend...

A night out with the ladies
After a bit of coordinating through email, Irma, Lynne, Sue and I met at Jeffery's Café & Wine Bar for coffee and dessert. It was nice to catch up and plan the next outing. After a couple hours, we all headed home.

How do you empty the water out of the washing machine without going through the entire cycle?
Once I got home, I decided to do some laundry. I separated my clothes into colors and darks, and turned on the washing machine. No big deal, except for the fact that we didn't have any fabric softener. Uh-oh. Here I have the washing machine slowly filling up with water, and I realize that I'm not going to be able to do laundry. So how do I empty the machine out, without having to scoop out the water? I switched it to the spin cycle and it emptied out. I wasted a bit of water, but it wasn't that much. So what do I do now? I suppose I could watch tv...

Why are there certain words in my blog that are highlighted, after I've published my post?
For some reason, after I publish my posts, certain words are highlighted in yellow (or maybe another color depending on your computer) that are linked to search.targetwords.com. Is this a new feature with Blogger? Is there a way of eliminating this? I've tried going into my post and deleting the tag, but somehow it automatically appears?

New stuff
OK, so it's been exactly a month since my last post. Again, due to computer problems at home and the inability to blog while I'm at work, doesn't give me much of a chance to blog. But as you can see, I have been able to sneak in some time to finally get this blog going (note the fall colors). So what have I been up to in the past month? Well, in no particular order:

• Scuba Diving - After finishing my swimming lessons, my instructor gave me a free pass for scuba diving. It involved some class time, and then we were able to do dives in a pool. At first I didn't have a problem with it, but after a while, I just couldn't get used to the equalization. I tried all the tricks to relieve the pressure in my ears, but it didn't work. In the end, it was just uncomfortable. So much for scuba diving, but at least I got to try it. Another thing I didn't like about it was the fact that the tank ruined my bathing suit. Ugh. But this gives me an excuse to buy another one ;-)
  
• I paid for my Mexico trip (which btw is 29 sleeps away). I can't wait to go!
  
• My mom celebrated her birthday on the 24th. We just had a quiet dinner at home.
  
• Irma and I went shopping and due to her bad influence (I trained her well =P), I ended up buying another pair of shoes, which now puts me at 47 (am I really at 47?!).
  
• Irma and I went to watch a hockey game. It was only a pre-season game against Minnesota, so it was OK. We just couldn't get into it and it seemed like we were just watching tv?
  
• The girls (Irma, Irene, Jo Anne) and I finally have our Sex in the City nights. And the weird thing is, it's the final season.
  
• Irma and I went shopping for a car. Yup, I'm thinking of getting a new vehicle. The MPV is just too big for me, plus it's time for a change.
  
• Belly Dancing - I've decided to take belly dancing. It's something I've always wanted to try so I thought 'why not?' I've only been to one class so far, and it's a lot of fun. The instructor was right when she said that we'd be moving muscles we didn't know we had.

I think that's about it. With this new blog, hopefully I can keep it up-to-date...