Woohoo! Only hours to go!

I only have a couple hours of work left this year! At 1:30pm, we’re having our potluck and gift exchange, so by the time that’s done, it will likely be 3pm and I think we’ll all be leaving the office then. Yay!

I spoke to all 3 of my coworkers that I want to be referees for my P.Eng. application and they all agreed (you need a total of 3 for your P.Eng. application, 2 of which have to be P.Eng.s). It’s not like I thought they would say no, but it’s good to have confirmation that they are on board to help me get my P.Eng. One of them even offered to send me his application so I could look at it as an example. So, it looks like I will be completing my application next week and submitting it at the beginning of January. Who knows how long it will take before I hear back, I’m thinking 2 or 3 months.

I may not post again before Christmas, so I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas!

EDIT 12:15pm

CT just let me know that the gift for Koby arrived today. Just in time! On the last possible day before Christmas, in fact! How's that for timing!

The end is in sight

Only 1.5 days of work left. Tomorrow, we’re having our potluck and gift exchange, and we’re all going home after that, so I will likely be able to leave the office around 3pm tomorrow, I’m hoping. That gives me some time to buy CT’s Christmas present, which I was planning to do on Sunday but then the weather changed my plans!

So tomorrow I’m going shopping to get CT’s present, then Saturday, CT and I are going shopping together to finish up our shopping (I imagine the mall will be INSANE, but we have no choice). Then Saturday evening, I need to finish making the presents for Oma and CT’s mom. Then on Sunday afternoon, we’re heading to my parent’s house for Christmas. We’re spending the night there and doing Christmas morning on the morning of the 24th. Then we have dinner with my aunt, uncle, and cousins, and then we go to church at 11pm on the 24th for the candlelight service. Then CT and I get to spend the night at our place and wake up on Christmas Day morning together. Then we head to CT’s parents house for the day on the 25th. Which is only about 45 minutes from us, so it’s not that far to travel at all.

As for the rest of my holidays, I’m sure CT will want to go shopping on the 26th for the boxing day sales, I think I’ll stay home ;) Then the 27th and 28th, I’m going to spend getting my name change done (lots of phone calls to make and places to visit) and preparing my P.Eng. application.

For the 29th to the 1st, I plan on doing not much of anything. It will be fabulous! I have so much work to do when I get back in January, so I will have to make sure I spend some of my time off relaxing because I think I won’t get much relaxing time for the next few months. February and March are our busiest months and January is shaping up to be busy as well.

I am annoyed at the fact that I ordered a Christmas present for Koby (my parents doggie) in November and it still hasn’t arrived yet! Sheesh! It’s coming from the states, so I am guessing it is likely caught up at the border. I guess he won’t really know the difference if he gets it after Christmas, but I thought I was ordering it in plenty of time, but I guess not! I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that it comes either today or tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to Brad!

Pitt that is, he turns 44 today. And he’s still as hot as the day I started my long time crush, which is probably getting close to 15 years now.

That is all.

I am still a party girl! ;)

My company Christmas party on Friday was an absolute blast. I had a great time. Yes, I got a LITTLE drunk (emphasis on the little), but so was everyone else, so it was all good. I even made myself $20 by drinking a half glass of wine with a bit of salt and pepper in it. It was a dare and was an easy $20. Jim did the same thing and he got $20 too and the deal was that if we could do it, we had to buy shots at the next place for the person of our choice, and they had to drink it. Jim had to go home, so he gave me his $20 with instructions on who I was to buy shots for. Well, when we got to the next place, our boss started a tab and told everyone to put their drinks on the tab. So, I didn’t even need to use the $40! So, I got everyone a round of Jager and we all did those close to the end of the night. And I made sure to get a couple extra for the guy Jim wanted to target. So, it was a fun night for all. Best part was, we were out from 6:30pm until 2:30pm drinking and we didn’t have to spend a dime! Thanks to my company! Oh, and I even broke out some of our classic dance moves (lawn mower, sprinkler, shopping cart, microwave, and the ever popular ski jump and bobsled). They were a hit for sure! Heehee. It was a great night. So great in fact, that I pretty much slept most of Saturday.

So, I saved my $40 and used that the next night at CT’s company Christmas party. I wasn’t up to drinking considering I drank too much the night before, so the $40 covered our cab fare to and from, and 2 rounds of drinks for the 2 of us (my drinks were diet coke). There were prizes at this Christmas party and we cleaned up! CT won a digital tire pressure gauge, a cordless screwdriver thing, and one of those digital photo frames. All of it together was probably worth $150! Score! And I have been wanting one of those photo frames ever since I saw the one at lj’s dad’s house last month.

Due to the crazy snowstorm on Sunday (where police were telling people to stay off the roads), CT didn’t go snowboarding and I didn’t get my Christmas shopping finished. I only have CT’s present to get yet, and I guess I’ll have to get that sometime this week since Christmas is only a week away now! I did start on the mini-scrapbooks. I have all the photos chosen for them, so that is half the battle! I think it will only take me a couple of hours to get them finished since they are only a few pages long. So, I can save that for the weekend.

Only 5 days of work left this year! Yay!

The countdown continues…

...Only 6 days of work left this year!

So tonight is my company Christmas party. I am really looking forward to the time out. My coworkers are always a lot of fun, and I think every time we’ve gone out after the Christmas party, somebody ends up getting hammered (usually many people) and make a total fool of themselves. Good thing it’s not me! There was the one year I tackled my boss in a snow bank, but that was not even close to how crazy other people got that night. We’re going to walk down if it’s not too cold. Otherwise we’ll cab it. Then tomorrow night is CT’s company Christmas party, but at that one we have to pay for our own drinks, so I have a feeling we will drink less at that one ;)

I also want to finish my Christmas shopping this weekend and get started on my mini-scrapbooks. So, it will be a very busy weekend I’m sure!

What are you up to this weekend?

Only 8 days of work left this year!

I am really looking forward to my time off! I definitely need the break.

Not much new to report here. This week, I’ve been working really hard on the weight loss thing. I’ve been drinking 3L of water per day, I’ve been working out every night, and I have been counting everything that I’ve eaten and so far I have not gone over on points at all. I hope this works! I have 2 evenings out this weekend though, but I will use my flex points then. I have my Christmas party on Friday, which will likely involve lots of drinks since I think we’re going out afterwards. CT’s Christmas party is on Saturday, which will also involve drinking. But I think I’ll take it a little easier on Saturday. I’m thinking I will be really careful with what I eat, then I can ‘afford’ to have some drinks ;)

Can’t believe it’s less than 2 weeks until Christmas! That’s nuts! I am planning to make some mini scrapbook type things for Christmas for my Oma and CT’s mom, but I haven’t had any time yet. I’m hoping I’ll have some time to get started on them this weekend. Otherwise, it could be a last minute thing!

I am down to one month to go until I can apply for my P.Eng. That’s nuts! I’m going to get all the paperwork in order on my time off between Christmas and New Years so that in mid-January, I can mail it off. I have no idea how long it takes before I’ll hear back, I guess it likely depends on how long my references take to fill in their part. I’m hoping to hear back within a couple months though, we’ll see! I could potentially have my P.Eng. by the spring – yay! Not that it will make a huge difference for my job, just means I’ll be able to sign off on some things. And I will likely get a raise too!

Great weekend

The concert on Friday was amazing! I left work at 3 and we were at Yorkdale by 4:30, so we definitely made good time! Yorkdale wasn’t actually nearly as busy as I thought it would be. We had no problem finding a parking spot and we didn’t have to wait for a table for dinner. So, we had a nice leisurely dinner and then headed downtown via subway and were at the ACC a half hour before the concert started. Hedley was the opening band and they were pretty good. I’ve wanted to see them for a couple of years now, so I’m glad I had the opportunity. Bon Jovi was amazing! After all these years, he’s still got it. What a smile! We had pretty good seats, I was quite impressed. He played all the songs I hoped he would! It was definitely work seeing!!!

Saturday, we went shopping during the day and then went to a dinner with the church. It was “progressive” style, so we went to one house for salads, then the church for the main course, and then another house for dessert. It was good times. Then when we were coming home at 11pm, we thought it would be a good time to go to Wal-mart (I was avoiding it like the plague during the day), so we got a good portion of our shopping done. We were out of there by midnight and I was happy we went then because there were no crowds!

Yesterday, we didn’t do much. Caught up on some TV and did some grocery shopping.

So, I think we are likely around 80% finished our Christmas shopping. Which feels great! We still have CT’s family to buy for and I still have to get CT’s present. Luckily, he’s going snowboarding on Sunday, so I’ll have a few hours to myself. I’m going to use that time to get his present.

Only 10 more days of work left this year! Yay!

Big night tonight!

Yes, that's right, I'm going to see Jon Bon Jovi tonight! And I am under strict instructions from Mrs. JB that if I get close enough to him, I'm to kiss him from her! And then a kiss from me, of course ;)

And when he plays Livin on a Prayer, I will definately be thinking of you girls and our karaoke at the Silver Spur... "Geo Girls Minus Janet Plus Laura" made their one and only appearance... so far anyways!

I'm leaving the office at 3pm so that CT and I can head to T.O. Hopefully the snow lets up by then! It's supposed to stop this afternoon, so I think we should be okay. We're giving ourselves lots of time to get there.

I’m proud of myself today

We had a meeting this morning and there was a huge box of doughnuts that somebody brought. So, for the entire hour, they were sitting right in front of me on the table. And I didn’t take one! All I could smell were doughnuts, and everyone around me was eating them, but I totally resisted the urge and didn’t take one! I thought about it, remembered that I had already entered all my food into WW online and didn’t have any points left over for today, so I couldn’t have a doughnut. Of course, I could have used flex points, but I decided not to. I am so proud of myself today! Yay!

Maybe this is the first step in something good for me! I have been working out consistently (3-4 times per week) for a month and a half now, I have to start seeing results soon. I have been noticing that I am feeling like I am in better shape, and I have been able to increase the amount of weights I use in the workouts, so that has to count for something! Maybe one of these weeks my efforts will finally start showing on the scale. It just has to. I have never tried so hard at this in my whole life. It has to start working soon!

Let's talk about womens stuff...

I have been really frustrated lately due to my lack of weight loss. Well, let me rephrase that, I’ve been really frustrated lately due to my weight gain. I have been on WW for over a year and have gained 10 pounds. Which really boggles my mind since when I did WW 6.5 years ago, I lost 35 pounds in 6 months. And now I’m right back to where I started, within a pound or two from my starting weight 6.5 years ago. And I feel like I am putting more effort in this time. So, I am trying to figure out why this is happening to me. And the only differences I can see between this time and last time are: that I am 6.5 years older now, so maybe my metabolism is slowing down and the fact that I am on the pill now and I wasn’t before. I have been on the pill for 5.5 years now, so maybe that has been contributing to my weight gain. Because if I think about it, it has been a slow and steady thing, it’s not as if I gained the 35 pounds back all at once, it has been a gradual thing, with little periods of losing weight, and then gaining some. 1 step forward, 2 steps back. The only time I gained a lot of weight was on my honeymoon in September, I gained 10 pounds in 2 weeks. Totally not fair. And I have still been struggling to even get 1 of those pounds off. And I had my thyroid checked 6 months ago because I thought that may be what has been hindering me, but it came back normal.

So, I have come to the following conclusion: maybe I need to go off the pill! Which scares me to death. The reason being that I had BRUTAL periods before I went on the pill (7 days of HEAVY flow, so heavy that I sometimes bled through and soiled my sheets and mattress, sorry if that’s too much info!, and INCREDIBLY painful cramps). I used to have to take prescription pain meds for the pain. Now that I have been on the pill, my periods are quite manageable, much lighter flow and I get by with just taking advil. Now I realize that since I’ve been on the pill for so long, that maybe my periods would be just fine now without the pill. I am just scared to test that theory. So, my question to you lovely ladies is: have any of you taken the pill for reasons associated with your period and then stopped taking it? When you went off the pill, were your periods the same or better than before you went on the pill?

New 'do for c-dub

I got my haircut on Saturday and it looks really good! I got a total of 5 inches cut off (so now it's just past my shoulders) and have layers now, the shortest is just a bit longer than my chin. I love it! My hair has life and body again!

The funny part was, my family didn't even notice I got my hair cut, but my co-workers noticed right away. 5 inches is quite a significant change!

Guess what I spent my morning doing? A tutorial for ModFlow. Yes, my exposure to that wonderful program has begun. It actually looks really cool. I'm taking a course in February. February 5-8 to be exact. I wanted to get my feet wet a little before the course, so I decided to go through the tutorial today. It was fun!

What a strange wedding

The wedding CT and I went to on the weekend was very strange. It was the first wedding we went to after our own, so I guess I shouldn’t compare it to the perfection that was my own wedding ;) But seriously, I wasn’t the only one who found it strange, there were many people who made comments. And they had been engaged for a year, so it’s not like they were rushed in the planning or anything.

First off, there ceremony was between 10 and 15 minutes long, I’m not exaggerating! The ceremony was rushed, everyone was speed-walking and speed-talking through everything, and we couldn’t even hear a thing because everyone talked so quietly. Nuts. There was no music or anything. There was some very faint music when the bride walked in, but it was barely audible. They walked back out to the Darth Vader theme song, and again, barely audible. While the ceremony was going on, the staff at the car were talking and making lots of noise which was really annoying (it was in a hall).

Then, the food was terrible. Everyone was left hungry and several people tables were asking for more buns because they were still hungry, but they didn’t get any. I think the one thing you should always make sure of at a wedding is that your guests don’t go hungry. Well, we all went hungry. We even talked about leaving for a bit and going to Tim Horton’s to get some food and coming back. It was ridiculous!

Then with the speeches, it was very poorly organized and it seemed like nobody really had prepared anything, the groom said all of 3 words, only 2 of the 4 parents went up to speak, and again, everything was very rushed and again, barely audible.

The dancing was a joke, the music they picked was not easy stuff to dance to. So, the dance floor was empty most of the time. Our table got up to dance for awhile to try to get things started, but we only stayed up for a few songs because then the music took a turn for the worse.

So, we left at 10:30pm and we weren’t even close to the first to leave. Several people at the wedding that were also at ours were still raving about how great our wedding was (not in front of the bride and groom, thank goodness!). I felt kind of badly for the bride and groom, but they didn’t seem to be upset that their wedding was a dud. I guess in the end, they are married now so that’s all that really matters.

I think I have come to the conclusion that I should be a party and event planner! I think I would be really good at it. Maybe in my next career, that’s what I’ll do ;) Seriously, some people could obviously benefit from my help!

Yesterday was my birthday dinner with my family. It was really nice to get the whole fam together again for some food and good times.

Hard to believe the weekend is over already! This morning I woke up to some crazy ice on my car, I guess we got lots of freezing rain and snow overnight. It took me 15 minutes just to scrape off my car! Good thing CT came out to help me!