Hangover

I think the title of this post will tell you how I am feeling today! Aside from encountering computer issues this week I don't have a whole heck of news apart from the staff Christmas party last night.

I am pretty sure I am not the only person nursing a serious hangover this morning. What a good night it was. The company hosted a dinner and dance at a local club. I don't think anyone was much interested in the turkey dinner...Which was okay...It was more about socialising and drinking of course. Poor Robert drove, so he was pretty reserved and promptly forgot the names of everyone I introduced him to. I think all my work colleagues were interested in finally meeting the mysterious husband they have never seen. It was great getting to meet a lot of the 'other halves' as well.

As soon as the dinner was over the dancing commenced, I was pretty plastered by the time I hit the dance floor and threw some interesting shapes! Gangnam Style was entertaining as was Smooth Criminal I do believe I attempted some moon walking and a crutch grab...I dread to think how many beers a glugged, (possibly in the region of abut 15), but this morning, my head was pretty muzzy and my body ached in parts I never knew could ache! One of my co workers Sean brought a case of beer to the party and aside from the free drink we got, he kept supplying me with extra beer from his truck, if I thought I was hammered you should have seen the state of him at the end of the evening.
Even our VP of Eastern Canada was up kicking it on the floor. I am sure there will be some recounting of the evenings events, come Monday morning....Oh dear!

Shakespeare has continued his reign of terror on the Christmas tree this week, and has broken several more ornaments as he scrabbles his way inside it. Below is a very poor quality phone image taken of him in the tree last night.

It's not a real tree....But he doesn't care :o)

Santa's Little Destroyer

A bit of a quiet week this week although somewhat productive on my part as I managed to get some much need cleaning done. I skipped Camera Club on Wednesday as it was raining and miserable outside and the prospect of diving there and back on our dimly lit roads wasn't very appealing. That is one of my niggles about living here, the roads in the main are poorly lit and don't even get me started on pedestrian crossings! Nearly every week it seems recently, someone has been knocked down on them. Some of it is of course due to careless driving and lack of attention, but I believe it is also due in part to the fact that crossings are badly marked and not lit up, plus there are so many of them that people become oblivious to them. I think PEI have the right idea, as does the UK with zebra crossings, you notice them straight away, but here all you have are two white lines across the road which can be very worn and hard to see. Okay, whinge over!

Friday night Rob and I bit the bullet and pulled out the Christmas decorations and put the tree...Not without reservations on my part as to how it would fair with Shakespeare the destroyer in residence.
At around 1.30 am he jumped on the bed with a little Green Santa Clause that had been hanging on the banister downstairs, I have to say I was impressed he had found it and managed get it off with all the blue tack it had on it. On Saturday morning I made an inspection of the tree to find, 6 bows and 2 candy canes missing, plus one of my favourite purple balls shattered on the floor.

Saturday evening Anne and Smiffy came round to watch a movie (Crazy, Stupid, Love). I think I should mention at this juncture, that it is no coincidence that Anne and Smiffy's names keep cropping up together. They are indeed a couple now. I am proud to say I played a small part in this, as before Smiffy landed I told Anne about him and said that I thought they might possibly be a good match...I instigated Anne coming along to dinner at Wharf wraps to meet him the week of his arrival...And it looks like I was right :o) I am thrilled...As I am not generally a matchmaker, but in this case, things couldn't have worked out better. I genuinely love them both to pieces, and consider them both two of my closest friends and Rob and I really enjoy spending time with them.

After an enjoyable evening of film and snacking, they went on. Rob went to bed and I stayed up watching another movie, I headed to bed in the wee small hours and eventually nodded off only to be rudely awakened at around 7.30 am on Sunday morning by a god almighty crashing sound. Rob and I ventured downstairs to investigate only to find our tree tipped over...Yes the destroyer had been at it again!! It looks a bit of shambles now to say the least...But I couldn't stay mad at him for long as he is just so damn cute!

Finally, a couple of random images from the archives for you as I haven't done any photography for a few weeks now.

Fall in Mahone Bay

Blue Boat at Blue Rocks

Ho Ho Holy Crap...It's December

So here we go, head first into dreaded December. I cannot believe that people already have their outdoor Christmas lights and decorations up.

For Christmas Day this year, Robert and I have been invited to Anne's parents place and I am really looking forward to it, from my past visit there back in the Summer I know that Anne's mum is an excellent cook, which will knock spots off any feeble attempt we make at a Christmas dinner at home!

Last night Rob and I went over for dinner and a movie at Anne's which was lovely, and we got to meet her friend Kat, who I liked very much.

This week the weather has turned somewhat chilly as I believe it has in the UK too. On Thursday temperatures with the wind chill were down to minus 10....Brrrrr. That said I think it is due to warm right up again tomorrow.

Everyone seems to be debating what kind of a Winter we will have this year, as the last two have been pretty kind in terms of snow fall. According the the Farmers Almanac, we are in for a bad one, and apparently this is a reliable source. I personally hope the prediction is wrong!

Shakespeare continues to amuse us on a daily basis with his antics. His latest thing is getting in the bathroom sink. He loves it for some reason. I know many cats like sinks, but Shakes takes it one step further, not deterred by the tap running he sits in there getting his bum, tail and feet wet and doesn't seem to mind one bit...Very strange.

He other slightly annoying habit is shredding up the toilet roll. We have to make sure the bathroom door is shut all the time otherwise we find an unholy mess in there!

Nothing much else to report, the weekend has flown by as I have spent most of it on the PC putting together a new website for my brother.

Socially in the next few weeks we have a couple of parties to go to, My works dinner and dance is on Dec 15 and Anne is having an open house on Dec 22....Not sure how I will cope with all this eating and drinking...lol!

Some random images until next week. I thought you might like to see some of the faces I work with and of course Shakespeare in the Sink.

Finally borthday wishes go out this week to my friend Paula and my Godson Joshua! Hope you both have a wonderful day!!!


The front desk girls Left to right: Sarah, Kristen and Tanya

Sink boy!

Black Friday & Bowling

A busy week and fulfilling work week for me this week as have been designing some more marketing flyer's and a new 'stand up' for the showroom, plus working on some new new company processes to hopefully make things run a little smoother in certain areas. I have to say at this juncture that I really enjoy my job. Since switching locations I have been thrown into so many challenges and risen to them that feel I have been empowered and seemed to have carved out my own little role that covers such a cross section of departments. My problem solving abilities have been recognised and my design background has really come into play. In the past I have always lacked confidence and doubted my skills but I finally think that I am slowly but surely getting past this. I have always been afraid of change as I like the safety of routine. I can safely say that moving to a new country and working for a company that is constantly changing and evolving seems to have sorted that out as well.

In other good news, my images on Getty are still selling moderately well and and I have been able to save up a little bit of money and by then end of next month I am hoping to invest those dollars back into a new camera which I am very excited about.

This weekend was the Black Friday sales event something that I don't usually take that much notice of, but my favourite clothes shop Penningtons was having a special event on Saturday morning with 40% off everything between 7 and 9 am, so I made the effort to get my arse out of bed and attend. I picked up at top and some much needed underwear for nearly $100 off the normal price. Exhausted from trying stuff on, I headed home and had every intention of getting stuff done around the house, I went upstairs, put my new swag away got all the laundry out of the bin popped it on the bed, thought I would just sit own for five minutes and promptly fell asleep for the rest of the the morning and most of the afternoon. Damn!

Saturday night Myself, Rob, Smiffy, Anne, Darrel and Rachel (a new member in the photo club and a fellow Brit) went bowling. After a faltering start at the first location where all the lanes were pre-booked, we headed off to Beazely Bowling in Dartmouth. The Brits outnumbered the Canadians on this little outing by 4 to 2 and this became very apparent when we got to the bowling alley. Smiffy and Anne were the first to get there, Smiffy didn't know the size he needed for the bowling shoes, once he had sorted that out and got his shoes, he asked the chap, do you want just one or both of mine, to which the man looked utterly confused, as did Anne. Turns out you don't hand in your shoes at the Alleys over here. So then the rest of us arrived, oblivious to what had just transpired, I take off my shoes put them on his counter and along with Rob and Rachel as we attempt to swap our shoes for bowling shoes, Once again the man behind the counter looked somewhat bemused as did Darrel as to why we were giving this poor man our manky footwear, thankfully Anne appeared at this moment and said 'you don't hand your shoes in here, apparently you only do that in the UK', we all found this highly amusing and the giggling continued for quite sometime. Once in there, we found that the shoe thing this wasn't the only difference! The balls themselves are smaller, (skittle size balls as opposed to the normal 10 pin bowling size) and there are no finger holes...there is no electronic score board, just a paper score sheet and each person bowls 3 times not twice. The pins aren't bottle shaped either, just straight looking. When you are done bowling your turn there is a button you press to reset the pins...Which, in my case was a sod to remember. We all played together in the first round and I believe it was Smiffy that came out on top, in the second round we split up and did boys versus girls, and sadly the boys hammered us. It was great fun, and something I would like to do again! You pay on the way out not on the way in, and it was such good value at $8 each for unlimited bowling after 9 pm.

In unrelated news, I am very sad this weekend at the news of Larry Hagman's death. I loved him as JR and I didn't have any idea that he was ill with throat cancer. It such a sad loss and the new series of Dallas won't be the same without him but I am glad he got to do the first series as he loved that role so much.

The Bowlers left to right - Smiffy, Anne, Rob, Rachel
and Darrel

WTF? Small Balls

RIP Larry!

Cowboys and Hot Dogs

What is it about a 4 day week after a bank holiday? It's only 4 days but it seems like 6!
They should feel shorter but it always feels the complete opposite!

I finally got to catch up this week with my ex work colleague and Newfie buddy Sarah. She came round for dinner and few beers on Friday night, it was great seeing her and there was much hilarity as I introduced her to Pater Kay...Mind you I think his accent and expressions posed a few issues along the way which made it even more funny. Over dinner Rob and I tried to give her examples of regional accents (badly) from each part of the UK, she now gets the fact I don't sound like someone from Coronation Street. Talking telly, I have introduced a few of my friends now to some English entertainers and programmes they will likely never see over here. Anne loves 'Miranda', as do I...Such fun! Sarah is now officially a Peter Kay fan and Cheryl loves 'Life's too Short' with Warren Davies, Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant. I do think Canada is getting better at showing Brit TV, but it has a long way to go, especially when you consider the most known programmes are Coronation Street, Are you being Served (yes really) and every now and again someone always mentions 'Keeping up Appearences'! When we first got here Corrie was months and months behind, but I think due to popular demand they started upping the episodes per week to catch up and are now only a couple of weeks adrift.

Saturday Morning I went to Hatfield Farm on a Photo Club Field Trip. It was a good turn out of the familiar faces, Anne, Nancy, Smiffy, Deb to mention a few. In all there around 20 of us. Having not been there before I didn't know what to expect, it's a very pretty place, we paid to hop on the wagons and visit the other part of the farm called Fort Clayton, which is done up with cabins and shacks that have a touch of the wild west about them, the ticket includes a hot dog lunch...As many as you can eat and refreshments...I managed a total of 3.75 hot dogs before I was beaten!

I was quite enamored with one of the cowboys driving the wagons, it was the whole image, the hat, jacket and jeans thing he had going on I think...lol...Of course this was a source of entertainment for those that know me. Deb's Hubby insisted on embarrassing me at the end of the ride back into having a photo taken with him...I have yet to see that shot, but I am pretty sure it will be totally cringy! Oh and in case you are wondering where Robert was, he couldn't make this outing as he had to work sadly but I did share my cowboy tale with him.

After spending the morning on the farm it was back home to finally clear some of the sodding leaves out of the back yard and the alley way behind the house...There were so many of them. Trouble is where we are, we have so many trees behind the house, they all blow into the yard...Not anyone else's in our row, just ours as the wind whips around the corner and ours if the first port of call for them being as we are the end house. It took a while, we also brought in our lights ready for the Winter. It was a cool and sunny 6 degrees on Saturday, and with all that fresh air and hard labour in the back yard, I promptly fell asleep on the couch in the afternoon for a well earned nap.

Picture Postcard Perfect - Hatfield Farm

Wagons Roll Cowboy

Fort Clayton - Hatfield Farm



Porch View at Fort Clayton

A Long Weekend

So here we are again, it's the weekend and it's a long one for most of us here as It's Memorial Day. I say most of us, I have Monday off but poor Rob doesn't. It does really depend on who you work for and what industry you are in as to whether you get the Monday as a holiday.

The weather looks pretty good for tomorrow, so Anne and I are heading out to take a few photos.
I attended camera club this week, the first time in a long time I must confess, as of late I have found the meetings somewhat tedious. I love going there to meet up with friends, but as far as the content of the meetings go, it can drag on a bit. I know that I am not the only one who has been thinking this. Having said that, this weeks meeting was actually okay. Some members presentations of images were followed by a workshop on light painting. Many who attended joined in with that.

As for other news, not much really. As I hadn't seen some of the girls in a while (due to the lack of interest in the camera club meetings) so I arranged a meet up for a Chinese meal on Saturday evening. It was nice to see them all and have a catch up. In attendance were Cheryl, Deb, Angie, Anne and Suzanne. Nancy couldn't make it as her and Wayne are in the States picking up a new car and driving it back. While I was out with the girls Smiffy and Rob went out for dinner in Dartmouth to The Celtic Corner Pub. I myself have not been there, but by all accounts the food was pretty good.

I'm a Celebrity starts tonight, I trust some of you will be watching, as ever I am exciting to get yet another dose of reality TV to keep me going over the winter months until Celeb BB starts again...I know, I am terminally sad!! On this side of the Pond I am very much enjoying The Voice, there are some great singers this year, unfortunately one of my favourites Mackenzie Bourg got eliminated this week. I also read that next season, Ceelo and Christina are bowing out of the judging and are to be replaced with Shakira and Usher. Now Shakira I think is a great choice, but surely they could get someone better than Usher?! Other (non reality) series I am watching that you may want to look out for in the UK are Person of Interest, Elementary, 666 Park Avenue and Vegas.

Until my next post, I shall leave you with Mackenzie and some more shots of our lovely Autumn!


Mackenzie Bourg's Blind Audition


Knock out round with his version of Call Me Maybe
He won this round and got booted this week singing One Direction.


Walking in Autumn - Victoria Park, Truro

Fall Colours near Parrsboro

Reflections of Autumn at Shubie Park 

 

Trick or Treat!

It's been a busy week for me, it was month end and year end at work, so there was, and still is much paperwork to contend with. I have been more and more sluggish as the week has progressed. I can definitely feel the beginnings of hibernation mode starting to kick in.

Another Halloween has come and gone. Last Sunday I went into panic mode as I suddenly remembered we had to carve our pumpkin for Wednesday. We opted for a cannibal pumpkin theme, which everyone seemed to love and comment on. Some of my work colleagues made the effort to dress up at work, the best and scariest by far was Chris (photo below, I have given him a spooky background rather than the press he was stood in front of). I must confess I thought the wind and rain that we were having on Wednesday (thanks to Hurricane Sandy) would have put some of the trick or treaters off, but no, it was a 'full on' turn out and we had 150 kids come a knocking. Just as well we were well prepared, as the last of them slipped away we were left with just a handful of treats which we promptly ate. Anne popped over and we watched a bit of telly and about an hour after we had finished the treats a couple of giggly stragglers turned up, upon hearing we had no more candy, they asked for cheese? Rob obliged and they went on their way.

Saturday we took Shakespeare for his check up at the vet and all is well after his op. The girls there were so excited to see him especially as he was wearing his bandanna. I am proud to say he is pet of the week this week and his photo is up on the wall and on their plasma screen bearing the words 'Shakespeare White...A handsome man!' How cute is that!!! I didn't think anyone could be as crazy about that cat as I am but I was wrong :o)

The weather is a bit blah right now, just gray and not so photogenic so I have opted to do some much needed and long overdue cleaning this weekend, I am posting this early so I can crack on with the clean up tomorrow.

This years cannibal pumpkin....Terrible quality...Sorry!

Work Colleague Chris...Looking pretty scary on Wednesday!

Not so scary, Pet of the week....My boy in the bag cupboard!