Florida

I was lucky enough last week to be able to jump in my car here in Guelph on Saturday morning and drive myself down to Buffalo to fly away from cold, snowy, never-ending Ontario winter to emerge in a hot, humid drizzling evening in Jacksonville, Florida.  I absolutely love starting the day in one place and ending it in another.  On this annoying cold, snowy, windy April day, please join me for a trip to Florida!

So I landed in Jacksonville, but it wasn't my final destination - I was en route to Gainesville where my friend Michelle is working at the University of Florida vet college this year doing a fellowship.  Smart lady, choosing somewhere warm to go for the year.. and everyone who got to escape Ontario to visit her this year is very grateful.. thanks Michelle! :)  I went to pick up my rental car and the guy was busy setting me up with my Kia Rondo (I tried not to actively pout when I heard the news, but it was difficult).  Then he said "oh, you're dropping in Gainesville - WELL, would you like a free upgrade to a Ford Mustang?"  UM, yes?! Who would say no to this? So awaiting me in the parking lot was a shiny new Mustang waiting to be driven all over the state for the next 4 days.. woohoo!  Nice note to start the trip on! 

..because of course as soon as I got going I was in a typical Kristyn hectic moment of not being able to find the power connection to plug in my GPS, not able to receive a satellite signal on my GPS because I was in an airport parking garage, and not being able to figure out the windshield wipers on the car while it poured outside.  And whoever designed the pkg garage at JAX needs a slap, you can't see any cars coming around any of those corners!!  But I have to say, as I blasted the radio, fiddled with the controls and drove out somehow without smashing the car into the dusky evening with palm trees blowing back and forth in the warm wind, I could NOT stop smiling.  I had a happiness that was filling me up from within!

The reason for the bubbling happiness, I actually figured out.  Work has been tough for the past couple of months.  Got a new job, which comes with new responsibilities, new committments, new challenges - and am also helping "finish out" my old job, which is basically a non-stop stream of crazy tasks that I am happy to FINALLY be turning the tap off on.  Bailey has been sick on and off the whole time we've had him.  Wheat sensitivity suspected.. roundworm confirmed (euwww).. sensitive stomach likely.. treats banned.. dogfood questionable.. bland diet seems to be working... my head had been swirling since getting up with him in the middle of the night the morning I left for my trip wondering how to fix my freaking dog who has lost a lot of weight, lost the shine in his fur, and just isn't quite himself.  And winter has been LONG.  Dogwalkers or even just those heading outside from time to time can agree this winter was ridiculously long with very little reprieve!  Also, field season is fast approaching which means a whirlwind of travel and outdoor work which is awesome, but can be overwhelming.  SO... I looked at my life at home over the past couple of months as this pie:

The dog has definitely taken up a lot of my brainspace and capacity to worry, but also just the general amount of time taking him for walks, taking him to the vet for vaccinations, meds and check-ups, scouring pet stores to find treats that might work with the crazy tummy, etc. etc. - it's kind of insane!  Work is sort of an inevitable that's going to take up most of my thoughts during the week, and hopefully in only a limited capacity on evenings and weekends! :)  Health and fitness has taken a nosedive - though I am only 5 lbs away from that New Years Resolution of losing 9 lbs, so I'm not doing too badly!  At one point I was only 3 lbs away.. but that was 2 lbs and a bunch of easter chocolate ago ;)  I'm glad I'm still able to make time for friends and family, and very proud of Jeff and I for ALWAYS picking at least a night or two a week that is strictly date night, where there will be no talk of housecleaning, dog poop, work or stressors and we just take the time to lay on the couch, watch the Leafs game, cuddle and be us.  Yay.  All in all, the pie is sound.  But the "me time" and "friend time" slices were what I was hoping to work on most in Florida, with some health and fitness where I could fit it in.

And I'm very happy to report that I maxed out on me time (reading nearly an entire novel and many trashy magazines :), random day naps, leisurely shopping trips), had a great time squeezing in some friend time with Michelle while she luckily got the day off work to explore and shop Florida with me on Sunday, and focused on health and fitness with (mostly!) healthy eating, a 5k solo nature hike and a vigorous workout at the gym at Michelle's condo (and another at the Atlanta airport.. stay tuned).  It definitely recharged my batteries getting to focus on a few of the really great and fun categories, and made me appreciate other categories even more when I got home, featuring furry dog hugs, furry Jeff hugs, time with family over easter, lots of fun plans with great friends coming up this month, and getting on top of some nagging tasks at work.  Florida pie was delicious; everyday pie not all that bad!

 

Highlights!

 

1) Swimming with manatees.  This was hands down one of the weirder and cooler things I've done in my life.  Strap on your snorkel, wetsuit and sink down into a spring fed river to search for ginormous gray underwater elephants, snoozing and swimming in their natural habitat.  Too bad the area was a BIT overrun with overzealous tourists (Michelle was subject to some manatee road rage which involved bumping and elbows) and that most people couldn't figure out that if you don't step on the sandy bottom the water will stay clearer so we can all see better, and too bad the guy on our tour decided to have a random "I'm drowning!!" moment and had to be towed in to the boat.. sort of cut our trip short.  But the underwater quiet, huge schools of fish and slow-moving manatees were an incredible sight to see.  My favourite was leaving the overrun area and finding a manatee just hanging out on his own, where we could all float around and watch him.  One time when he came up for air, we made eye contact and I got goosebumps (on top of my 72F water goosebumps!).  Very very cool.  Hoping the conservation efforts around these awesome endangered cuties works out well for them!

Check out this great video Michelle took of our lone manatee friend coming up for a gulp of air:

 

2) Nature walk at Paynes Prairie.  This should have been a very small mid-afternoon adventure just to the south part of town, but I of course followed my GPS 30 km south to the south entrance of the park where I was told that the good stuff (gators and waterbirds) were all at the north end of the park.  Defiantly, I walked a 0.5km nature trail and took lots of pictures, chased a butterfly through a forest and hiked up an observation tower to take a look.  Then hung my head in defeat, walked back to the 'Stang and plugged in the name of the road the park ranger had told me I needed to access to get to the GOOD nature trail.  I thought it was weird that I was now travelling east BELOW the park.. I was sure I needed to go back north just WEST of the park.. but I had a lovely drive, saw some things, and then inevitably nearly got stuck in mud in a hillbilly driveway off the highway that was clearly marked "No Trespassing!" in all three direction.  GPS 0.. Kristyn... 0....  While I was frantically trying to figure out where I WAS (times you wish you had a freaking hard copy of a map or a U.S. data package on your phone), the hillbilly ominously drove past me.. I didn't make eye contact.. but DID make it out of there alive and found the RIGHT trail. On the La Chua trail I saw gator after gator after egret after ibis after bison poop and more.  I nearly ate some of the vegetation along the trail I was so hungry (unexpected 1 hour detour being the reason I did not have lunch) but made it home in one piece.  I killed most of the groceries I'd bought that morning I was so starving, and drank nearly a whole brita full of water, looked in the mirror and started laughing at my million new freckles, sunburned cheeks and a tiny sunburned triangle where I hadn't quite zipped my zippered shirt up all the way. Not to mention the massive blisters on my toes from choosing that particular 5k hike to break in my brand new hiking boots.  Some field biologist who brings neither a map, food, water, bandaids, or sunscreen.  Ah, well - it was all worth it! 

Hanging with gators at observation tower



Nature hike in southern portion of Paynes Prairie

Gators!

Birds n' gator!

A beautiful view

 

3) The BATS.  Seeing 300,000 bats emerge from their bat house/bat barn on the UF campus just after dusk was unlike anything I've seen before.  A sky black with bats!  Michelle and I wisely took shelter under some shelter - bats gotta pee too, you know.  Check out vid that I only remembered to take about 5 mins after the peak of the mass bat exodus:

 

 

4) The SHOPPING!  Michelle and I agreed neither of us was really into shopping - but let's try out those Orlando outlets we've heard so much about anyways!  4 hours, very tired feet, very empty wallets and very heavy bags later, we were done.  IT WAS AWESOME.  It's like a collection of all those fancy stores I'd NEVER dare to go into at home, then everything priced super cheap, then everything 50% off of the super cheap price.  My mind was blown!  I am in love with my new finds, and slowly changed into a new outfit as we moved from changeroom to changeroom - I looked fantastic by store #4 ;)  Now I just need the 28C weather we were having in Orlando that day to pay me a visit here in Guelph so I can rock my new capris soon!!  Two non-shoppers had a very successful shopping day.

 

Hijinx...

 

1) Trying to find Michelle's apartment.  I often think I can outsmart my GPS or I know better (then again, it tried to force me down a hillbilly's driveway to get me to a state park, so you can understand my lack of FULL trust for its abilities!).  I basically drove up and down her street for 10 minutes before realizing I was a total idiot and had passed the place twice already.  When I got there her buzzer box was broken so I tried to follow someone in through the automatic gate.  Mustang is quick, but I was not, and the gate started to close on me.  AUGH!  Iron gate!  Rental car!  In fast-thinking mode, I honked at the gate.  Sadly, I am not joking.  When that didn't work (a wonder), I threw it into reverse, pulled over and just called Michelle who came to my rescue.  I was wary of the gate the rest of the time I was there.....

 

2) Trying to pay a toll.  You think two relatively smart girls could figure out that if you're not sure if you have exact change, you should take the toll lane that says "change provided".  Instead, we confidently blazed through to the "exact change" lane where all my Canadian quarters were promptly rejected by the automatic machine. Oh shit. As cars started quickly lining up behind me, eager to get on with their own highway adventure, I, on some weird instinct, jammed my hand into the change return area at the bottom of the machine which yielded a dime... another dime... a quarter!  a nickel!  I was going to make it!!  As I crammed coins in desperately, including trying the Canadian quarters again (?! surprise, they didn't work), Michelle rolled down her window and asked the "change provided" toll lady if she could make change for us.  Her cruel "no" seemed unwarranted, but just as she said it, I got the last nickel in, hit $0.75 (yes all this drama over 75c) and the toll booth arm flew up and I slammed on the gas.  Then I noticed my hand - it was black with whatever disgusting deposit was lining the bottom of the dirty, public, change return repository in the ancient toll booth machinery.  I screamed as Michelle found an extra napkin from breakfast, wiped it on the condensation from my water bottle and handed it over so I could wipe my hand - classy!  Mad drama at the tolls.

 

3) Nearly getting hit by a tornado.  As we waited in the rush hour-like traffic to get into the outlets (no joke, 45 mins to go approx 2 km and park), we noticed the sky was incredibly dark.  At that moment, weather nerd Jay texted to tell us there was some crazy weather coming our way.  Michelle said "oh well, at least the sky isn't green" - but when we looked again it definitely had a distinct greenish tinge..... Umm..  The rain started pounding the Mustang relentlessly - at that point I was glad we were only crawling along a snail's pace instead of out driving somewhere at a proper speed.  The thunder and lightning were INSANELY loud and bright, and actually very cool.  The palm trees in front of us bent nearly 90 degrees in the wind.  And when it was all over and we were safetly inside the outlet mall (thought that's a bit misleading as it's mostly outdoors and was a bit of a wet go for the first hour!), a woman told us that a tornado had touched down in a town 10 minutes away (side note - the town is called.. Doctor Phillips..?  what's up with Floridians?).  So that was a bit of a near-miss. We sent Jay a pic of me pointing at the green sky in terror, and he thought we were trying to make him JEALOUS because he loves storms and texted back "F*** you guys!". Lol - oh weather nerd Jay!

 

4) Trying to make my connection.  Oh dear goodness.  Ok, so my flight is leaving Gainesville at 11:50 a.m., destined for Atlanta for 1:15 p.m., where I then have a 2 hour layover until my 3:15 p.m. flight to Buffalo.  This should all work fine and get me home for about 8:30 p.m.that night.  Checked the flight before I left - on time.  Super!  Standing in line to check my bag with all the other passengers and suddenly every single one of our cell phones starts ringing.  Ominous.  Indeed, Delta calling us to tell us the flight will be delayed for an hour and a half!  Luckily this is still enough time for me to make my connection.  Until it gets delayed another half hour.. and then another.. and then another.  Until now the flight isn't leaving until 2:40 p.m. and there's no WAY I'm making that 3:10 connection to Buffalo.  Dejected, I get myself set up on the 8:30 p.m. flight out of ATL, which will get me into Buffalo just before 11, getting me home for around 1:30 a.m. on a Tuesday night when I have to work the next day.  BUT ALAS - my new airport best friend (random guy I was chatting with in the waiting area) notices that the "later" flight to ATL is now actually leaving earlier than our crazy delayed flight - let's try to get on standby!  I love this guy - we got on standby, he let me use his iPhone charger (lesson: never assume you will have a short day of travel and put your chargers in your checked luggage) to make sure I had enough juice to last what might be a very long day, we had a great chat about Texas and Ontario (I enlightened him that, actually, most Canadians do indeed have air conditioning units in our homes...) and he was willing to give me his standby spot if I didn't get it.  I wish I had his name to say thanks.  Stroke of luck: we both got on the 1:40!  But do the math.  The plane didn't get in the air until almost 2 p.m. 1 hour flight (at least) leaving me approximately 10 minutes to make my connection.  Another nice older man, my seatmate, helped me burst to the front of the line of the plane as soon as the seatbelt signed clicked off at the gate.. it was 3:00 p.m..  And the Atlanta airport is BIG. 

 

I crashed down the tunnel out of the plane to the terminal and burst out just behind the stewardess opening up the doors. I spied my desired gate on the screen, and I RAN! I landed into C37 (marked 57 on this map.. luckily not!) and needed to make it to B36 (honestly, what are the odds?!). I ran all the way down to the transfer in the middle of concourse C, went down the biggest escalator of my life (by this point, sweating and wheezing and in very close proximity to many people evidently not in any hurry, looking at me a little strangely, but nicely letting me by), ran blindly, following signs for "B", up the longest escalator of my life and then booting it all the way down the B terminal to 36. I have no idea how far it was, how long it took, I just kept thinking "if you miss this, it's an extra FIVE hours in this airport!" with a dead e-reader, a barely-living iPhone and a very disgruntled self - I lived by the "no regrets!!" mantra and just went for it. At one point I remember yelling "get outta my way, kid!" and there were definitely lots of incredulous stares as I was in a full out sprint. I came up to the gate, waving my arms frantically going "it's me it's me" through my panting. "Did I make it!?" I asked desperately. The attendent said "we shouldn't have held it for you.. but we did". PHEW! I burst onto the plane in a red-faced, panting, dramatic sweat and collapsed into my seat (sound familiar? this is why: http://www.sincerelygoofy.blogspot.ca/2012/01/ireland-first-12-hours.html). Then I spent the whole flight home AND next day coughing, feeling like I had fluid in my lungs. Umm.. any thoughts on that? Did I break my lungs sprinting?? It remains a mystery, but another successful airport sprint down on the books!

 

I managed to sail home without any other major catastrophes.  Of course my luggage didn't make it.  With switching flights and 10 mins of sprinting, I didn't expect my bag to be able to do both with me.  Not sure where we lost each other along the way, but I was happy to be reunited the next day at lunch - thanks Delta airlines and friendly guy with WNY accent who drove my bag up from Buff and left it on my front porch!

 

Highlights, hijinx and all, it was a really wonderful few days and I am definitely rejuvenated after getting away.  Sliding my feet into those flip flops was the BEST and I am now more eager for spring than ever!  A lovely chance to refocus the pie of life for a few days, and what better place to do it than Florida.

 

The Need to Sleep

I just felt inspired to write a little post about my love of sleep, which goes hand in hand with my atrocious behaviour when I haven't had enough sleep.

I have been a huge sleeper as far back as I can remember.  I was for sure that kid who hated getting up for school in the mornings (my dad had to "come back in ten minutes" at least 1-2x after trying to wake me up to get me going for school - he was my snooze button.. a good dad!).  I remember summer vacation in high school meant staying up until 3 a.m. and then sleeping until delicious 12:00 p.m.. My grandpa used to call our house to talk to my mom at 9:30 a.m. every Saturday morning and ended up nicknaming me "the bear" due to my manners answering the phone at that time of day.  Dawn is STILL terrified to call me before 10:00 a.m. (I am not, what one might call, a "morning person").  I can remember when I started going out to clubs and bars and not coming home until 3:30 a.m., then having to get up at 9 a.m. to work my high school part time job the next day - it was not a pretty sight (apologies to Cliffside M&M Meat Shops customers 2000-2001).  I remember the utter shock of university life when I was out until 3 a.m. most nights and expected to get up for class and labs for 8:30 a.m. the next day - ew!  It was at UG that I developed my love for napping (between classes, at the end of the day, before the bar - whatever I could get), out of the sheer necessity of actually getting my degree while still having the most awesome time possible.  Today, I am lucky enough to have found a job in town where I only commute 10 mins to work and work a 7 hour day, allowing for a sleep-in until 8 a.m. (well, until recently.. hi Bailey).  I have, over the years, been fascinated with times when I've had a small amount of sleep and managed to carry on: 

- In grade 12 I stayed up until 6 a.m. at a party and then slept for 3 hours and went to work my customer service job on my feet the next day for 9 hours; THEN went dancing that night and got home at 2 a.m..  I was astonished I was in one piece, and a little proud!
- On the night before my wedding I was up late running over details and scenarios and.. you name it!.. in my head until 1:30/2 a.m..  Due to a bridezilla and a scheduling conflict at my hair salon, I had to be up at 6 a.m. for the early hair appointment.  And I honestly had the greatest day of my life (the one time I can say that and it's not an exaggeration :)).  I remember not feeling tired until about 5 p.m. on the way to the reception, but that was the last I thought about being tired, until it was time for bed at about 2:30 a.m. that night!
- When I had a 4 day week in the field spraying Dog-strangling Vine this past June (my first large scale herbicide application effort, leading a team of 4-6 people), I was so jacked up going over details, planning, etc. that I was averaging maybe 3-4 hours of sleep a night with just one nap squeezed in one afternoon.  In 35C temps, in full spray gear, I'm still not sure how I did it for 4 days, but I did and lived to tell the tale!

Maybe the lesson is: when you gotta get 'er done (job, wedding, fieldwork) - you just sorta go for it no matter what! (I imagine this is what most parents have to do too, eh!)

But generally, a rule with very few exceptions, is that I need a lot of sleep to feel like myself.  I can describe this VERY accurately today based on how I felt this morning when Jeff's alarm that he'd forgotten to turn off went off at 6:07 a.m.... on a Saturday.  We'd stayed up "late" last night (midnight) and I was hoping to sleep until 8 a.m. or so - no such luck.  Bailey started stirring around 7 a.m. and though Jeff got up to hang with him, I never successfully fell back asleep.  And my mood was the pits.  I was a) exhausted b) irritable c) overly sensitive d) too groggy to pick up the newspaper and read it (our Saturday morning routine) e) too tired to join Jeff on the dogwalk f) too tired to pick up a dustrag and finish my half of the cleaning and g) so hungry I couldn't stop eating all morning (a common factor in the sleep deprived - too much of the hunger hormone ghrelin produced and I can certainly attest to the hunger pangs).  I was basically completely useless and all I could think about was "I have GOT to nap".  Napping is my medicine against sleep deprivation (well, ya..).  I can nap and then bounce up and feel completely restored to my usual self within an hour of waking (once I shake the nap-groggies off!).  So I woke up about an hour ago.. and here I am.  I feel great.  I'm ready to turn on some music and dance around the house dusting.  I'm ready to take Mr. B out on his walk in about an hour, and looking forward to how the fresh air will feel on my puffy face.  I'm ready for a night on the town with my ladies, and confident I can dance 'till I drop without collapsing crying on the dancefloor around midnight ;)

Anyone reading that last bit who is in the camp of people who only requires 6-7 hours of sleep a night, or even moreso, is a parent, is definitely having a laugh at this blog content right now.  But I spent a little bit of time after I woke up from my couch nap researching this interesting subject online and found, much to my relief, there are just certain people in the world who require at least 8-9 hours of sleep a night to function properly.  Symptoms reported by these people when not able to meet their sleep quota are fogginess, irritability, extreme hunger, fatigue and loss of energy and symptoms likened to symptoms of depression (!!!).  A large part of the reason I've been hesitant my whole life about having kids (apart from the never feeling the desire to have them.. that's a big one) is trying to picture a life of interrupted sleep, lack of sleep and loss of sleep.  Honestly, I am the most grotesque version of myself on little sleep.  I saw this woman in a parking lot the other day who couldn't even wait until she slammed her door shut before she turned around and started screaming her head off at her kids in the backseat.  I bet she was tired.  It's far too easy to picture myself in that role because my overreactions, sensitivity and general instability and inability to function like a human are so activated and amplified when I don't sleep.  And I would never, ever want to be that woman.  I feel bad enough if I get testy with the dog when he stands directly at my knees so I CAN'T MOVE (Bailey! he's like a furry log on legs) on a morning with not enough sleep.  I couldn't inflict that terrible attitude, daily, on another human being!  And since sleep deprivation seems to be an inevitable part of being a mom it seems like that parking lot mom scenario would be tough to avoid, for me at least.

So I'm writing this blog to take a stand. I am tired of people giving me a rough go when I tell them I need 8 hours (or ideally, 9 1/4 hours - a theory well tested during my lazy grad school years) a night of sleep to feel like the best possible version of myself: it's the truth!  I am tired of people telling me I could get used to sleeping less: I cannot! I am tired of being laughed at for going to bed at 9:30/10:00 to accomodate the dog's need to be up by 6:30/7: this is nothing to be ashamed of!  I am proud of recognizing my body's needs and striving to be the best possible version of myself through a routine of sleep and occasional napping that allows me to meet my sleep quota and then conquer the world, even if that just means dusting and walking the dog!  I want to be this (post-nap) Kristyn all the time.  It's better for my relationships, my health, my mental well-being, my productivity and attentiveness at work to better my career, my waistline due to an appropriate ghrelin-leptin production, and all around just makes me feel like ME. And who wouldn't want to simply strive to feel like YOU?

So!  A small cheers to some of the things I love:
- 500 thread count sheets
- king sized beds and body pillows
- heated mattress pads
- blinds shut tightly against the daylight
- earplugs
- a delicious mid-afternoon couch nap under the extra furry blanket
- a team nap with your lazy log of a dog, or snuggled on the couch with your hubs
- waking up feeling refreshed and happy about life
- no more waking up feeling disgusting and sluggish
- burrowing down with a smile on your face under your comfy covers
- giving into sleep, however much you can, whenever you can get it and not feeling guilty about giving your body what it needs

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........

Thanks, Bailey!

Part of the reason I haven't posted in a month is actually the subject of today's musings about a new guy who has come into my life.  He's hairy, silly, loving and loyal.  I have a "type" eh! ;) (j/k Jeff).  On January 16, 2013 Jeff and I picked up BAILEY, our new dog.  Our best guess for his heritage is some sort of rottweiler, shepherd, husky mash-up, he's 2, and he was rescued from a reserve up north then lived with a foster mom west of London for 2 months before coming home with us to his (what they call in the pet rescue world) "forever home".  It's been a wild ride.

Some of the things that have been tough to adjust for (mainly for me, not so much for Jeff, he's pretty "go with the flow".. whereas I would never use those words to describe myself lol) are:
- waking up at 7 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. (I realize that was just met with a chorus of laughter, but trust me, I need 8-9 hours of sleep to function like a friendly, reasonable human so this means I'm now in bed by 10 - ahhh!  I'm a grandmother!!)
- not having the opportunity to rest my body when it's sore - for example, I have bursitis in my hips and a herniated disc in my lower back, but there's simply no saying no to a wiggly whiny dog who wants to go for his walk.  I definitely woke up semi-paralyzed on Friday morning after my back went out for the third time in 4 years - such a bummer/setback for me physically - and the first thing I did was walk the dog to the park in a foot of snow to run and play...
- being entirely responsible for someone else's health - this is exhausting!  Especially when your brand shiny new dog shows up with a double ear infection that involves shoving antibiotics deep into his ear canal 2x a day for a week as a very interesting "get to know you" strategy.  And especially when your dog has a (likely, we're still in trial and error mode) wheat sensitivity resulting in several day bouts of crazy ass.. stuff.. coming out of his.. crazy ass... oh man.  AND especially when your dehydrated dog decides to go on a water strike and stop drinking from his bowl.  The things a "mom" will do to get their "kid" to drink - I felt like such a goof feeding him chicken broth, homemade chicken stock, ice cubes, and water from my hand (which he drinks no problem - so what's wrong with what's in his bowl!?!?)
- the guilt associated with regular activities like going to the grocery store or going to work (these things NEED to be done if you want me to able to feed you, Bailey!) - I'm sure half of the guilt is imagined on my end, but half definitely comes from the big brown eyes and mournful wails of a pooch being left behind

Though my cons list is sizeable, it's absolutely miniscule in magnitude compared to the pros list:
- getting my lazy winter-hating bursitis herniated disc ass out for a walk at least once every single day for the past 25 days.  I lost 3 lbs in the first week without even trying!  Yeehaw Dog Diet!  More than that, though, I've been reunited with my love of nature which tends to go dormant through the winter months.  I realize that once I get up and get going, there is a whole world of wonder outside - snow that sparkles like diamonds in the sun, chickadees and cardinals fluttering through the treetops, brazen deer that stare at you from where you've disturbed them in "their" forest.  And the benefits to me and my mood from being out there are unreal - I feel like a kid again with cheeks flushed pink, eyes that can't adjust to indoor light after one of those brilliantly bright white snow/shining sun days like today, sinking straight into the snow in my snowpants and just marvelling at the silence and the big goofy buffoon frolicking in delight around me and the amazing feeling of coming in from the cold and snuggling up next to the fire or in my cupcake-patterned fleece pants and a big blanket.
- getting to enjoy exercise with Jeff for more than our usual April - October schedule.  Nothing better than holding the dog's leash in one hand, holding Jeff's in the other, and enjoying a still moonlight night together
- opening my heart enough to let someone else into my largely selfish life and reaping the incredible benefits that come with giving out more love, receiving that love back probably in triplicate (and unfortunately quite often in the form of uninvited neck licks - euwwww) and feeling that our little family has expanded and is that much better for it
- watching Bailey play with other dogs, from the puppies and grown up dogs he meets on his walks, to my "little brother" Ziggy (his uncle, technically), to Kristy and Ev's puppy Muggins - he is just in his element, doing slow motion submissive dog wrestling and trying to get a tasty dog leg in his mouth whenever he has the opportunity
- adding an extra layer of fun and love to our house so that everyone who comes through the door from the pizza man to my parents to our friends gets to make a new friend with the quiet, licky, belly-rub-lovin' pooch
- enjoying making your furry friend SO happy by doing something SO simple like giving him a belly rub or feeding him his new "sensitive tummy/limited ingredient" salmon and potato dogfood (again.. euwwwww - fish breath!) which he LOVES - you get to absolutely make his day probably 20x a day and that is such a nice feeling
- making Bailey as happy as he's made us.  His past is a bit of a question mark, but there's no question that it involved some abuse and neglect, which is obvious from the way he bolts downstairs after being told "no!" to jumping up on the couch (come on.. it's my couch.. I barely let Jana on it (she's a spiller!)).  Other than occasional required disciplinary "no!" ("no, don't eat the banister Bailey.."; "no, don't lick the stuff in the dishwasher, Bailey..") we have made sure his life is as comfortable, happy and full of love and good times as possible.  I can see with every passing day that he is loving us, trusting us, enjoying his new home and his new routine (minus being left alone ;)) more and more.  And when he runs towards you in the park when you call him back to you, it really looks like he's smiling, and he just can't wait to get back into your arms! (this may have something to do with the occasional salmon/potato kibble reward.. we'll never know).  He's such a wonderful guy and deserves nothing but a great life, which Jeff and I are so happy to be a part of.

Like with romantic love, there is no perfect person in the world, but there is someone who is perfect for you - and Bailey is just perfect for Jeff and I.  Looking forward to, I'm sure, lots of ridiculous stories being generated from his general ridiculousness and hopefully a long, happy, healthy time together.

Resolute

I make them every year, and I try to stick to them as long as I can.  I think the only one I've ever been fully successful with was giving up celebrity gossip magazines for 2004.  Of course the first thing I did in Jan 2005 was buy one - a highly unsuccessful overall endeavour I'd say.  I've definitely had my struggles making resolutions "stick".  But I always want to keep on tryin'!  Unlike my friend Jay, who answered my NYR question with "I don't need any resolutions, I'm perfect" (HA! funny guy! ;)), I am in love with the idea of self improvement.  So for the sake of accountability:

1) JUICE! I was wondering why Jay and Jeff kept laughing when I said "I'm going to juice", but it was explained to me that this is how you reference being on steroids.  Ok, so not that.  I have a gorgeous top of the line juicer that was on our wedding registry that we've used a total of, oh, 5 times (apologies to whoever got me the juicer - fear not, its time has come!).  I've been reading, hearing buzz and watching docs about the benefits of juicing.  I am not sure I'll get past the massive waste of fibre/material that is lost in the process, but the juice is a) delicious b) nutritious and c) a really easy way to get all those vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals I'm missing out on by not eating enough veggies (a consistent problem).  If anyone has any thoughts/wisdom on juicing, I'd love to hear more (I'm a novice as of yet).  I made my first batch last week: carrot-celery-cucumber-spinach-lemon-lime-apple-kiwi-orange-ginger... delish!  Jeff really liked it too (though he said the colour resembled chocolate milk - blame the carrot orange plus spinach dark green - eep!).  I fear I will do all the juicing and he will do all the drinking of said juice!!! ;)

2) Learn French.  Giving up French in grade nine was easy - I was terrible at it, generally don't like being terrible at things, and thought I'd "start fresh" with German in grade ten.  Now, 16 years later, here I am, barely able to remember how to count to ten in German (eins.. zwei?.. drei?!) and sitting in this bilingual country, working for a national, bilingual organization and wishing I could understand what the heck my coworkers in Quebec were saying!  So I'm back.  I am starting sloooooow with the basics (bonjour!) but am committing to several lessons a week until I have some semblance of a working knowledge of the French language. My first lesson: bacon does not come from pickles (who made the words cochon and cornichon so similar anyways!? at least Viv was very nice about it when she patiently explained my error). Well.. bon chance, moi!

3) Stand up for myself.  I have a lot of opinions, feel strongly about many things and fight fiercely when I believe in something.  However, for some reason, there's this giant, gaping, people-pleasing blind spot in my composition that lets me, at times, be a total weenie.  I've been cursed with a desire to make other people happy - and, sure, it makes life easier for those around you when they're all happy, but where does it leave you at the end of the day if you haven't stood up for what you believe in?  I'm tired of people ramming their criticisms of me and my life choices down my throat (note: without me asking - what the heck is going on in this world that people will jump at the chance to tell you what they think you're doing wrong when you didn't even ASK THEM!?  to me that's just rude and I think of Thumper from Bambi - "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!").  I will still stick to my life mantra of "there's no such thing as right and wrong, there's something in between called getting along" and my hope for a zen-like, drama-free existence, but I'm certainly not going to back down and be pushed around anymore, and I hope the situations in which I have to exercise these new (weak) muscles are few and far between but I am preparing for them because life is too short to live it in a way that doesn't make me proud and happy.

4) Floss.  Seems simple, but this is a huge challenge for me.  For whatever reason, the LAST thing I want to do first thing in the morning or last thing at night is drag a piece of floss through my teeth.  It's like 30 seconds of my day, but I can't seem to get up the willpower to do it.  I look at the floss and then walk away.  What the heck!?  I don't know what I have against it, and I know how amazing it is for my oral health (plus the dentist is always so disappointed when I haven't flossed - it's unbearable to see my hygenist's face when I floss-misbehave, I swear) - so 2013 is the year of making it part of my teeth-brushing routine.  Or so I'm saying.  In writing.  So I'll be accountable.  I have flossed once since New Years and it's January 7.  MUST FLOSS!  Determined!  WILL FLOSS!

This girl seems so happy - can this be me!?

5) Get back to my wedding weight. Of course there's a weight loss goal here - it's new years and I'm the queen of weight loss challenges! Cliche much?! ;) Sometimes I swear I gain it back just to lose it again - I love having a goal to work towards and watching pounds fall off when I really give it my all!!!  So, I've been working for a week now at the dropping of ~9 lbs of weight that has reappeared after my wedding slimdown just over a year ago and I'm happy to report 1.5 lbs has already said goodbye! More importantly, 1 lb of that was fat (I have an intensely analytical bathroom scale) and most importantly I'm putting a heavy emphasis on strength training to replace fat with hardworking muscle, which has been wonderfully rewarding and making me feel strong once again.  I'm also just generally trying to be more active each day, with fun activities like x-country skiing and hiking, less fun activities like keeping the house clean and organized, and working hard on projects like helping my parents install flooring in their basement (you want a workout - install 300+ square feet of laminate flooring and let me know how your butt feels the next day!!).  I'm feeling great so far and ready to keep at it until I get back into some of my favourite pants and get to a weight that I can comfortably maintain.  Stay tuned!

So let's see how 2013 shakes out.  I don't have total die-by-them faith in my resolutions, due to my past track records, but I'm always ready to try anything out, see how it goes, and work at making myself even just a little bit of a better version of moi!

The Year of Debt Repayment

Anyone I've spoken to in the past year has surely heard me mention "THE YEAR OF DEBT REPAYMENT", said in a slightly ominous voice, inevitably in conjunction with some complaint about how I can't go out/attend that sporting event/see that concert/go on vacation/upgrade my 2007 wardrobe, buy that nice fill-in-the-blank, etc. etc.  In 2012, Jeff and I decided to buckle down and pay off a huge loan we had taken out from the Bank of Brian and Gwen (as my mom named it).  My parents have a kick ass line of credit with a prime-ish interest rate, so instead of paying the inevitably higher interest rates offered to those who hold mortgages on two homes, multiple credit cards and student loans (read: Jeff and I!), my mom generously offered to pay off our high interest debts if we paid her back (with interest, obvi), in no set time frame. Shout out to my mom here - she's great!!!!  And to my hubs, probably a more private person with his money/business than I am.. whereas I unabashedly told anyone who would listen all year about how skint we were and am now blogging about it in detail.  Thanks Jeff!  In defense of my blathering, I do hope that I might inspire someone (anyone reading this! not anyone in particular :)) to buckle down and just get 'er paid off if you have a debt that's bugging you.. read on for details!

So. 2012. We buckled down.  Hard.

It has been a tough year.  There have been times where I've wanted to cry/have cried over the frustration of living on a shoe-stringier-than-usual budget.  We've had our disagreements over the best way to spend our paltry amount of "free" money.  We put a total hold on home renos & redesign (which we love to do! has been so irritating!!).  Jeff tried several low budget (unfortuantely unsuccessful) solutions to fixing his car's radio when the FM radio gave out, and eventually gave in to listening to TALK1010 on his way to and from work on his 35 min each way commute each day (trooper :)).  We've filled a grocery cart and then put back things we didn't REALLY need.  We have spent many a night pj'd (jp'd) out on the couch, just keeping it close to home to save bucks.  I have lived inside an excel spreadsheet called "budget" and worked 2 positions at my job with only minor bellyaching (rising in pitch at times, for sure, though) because the inflated paycheque meant we could e.g. do Christmas right instead of making homemade gifts (which has definitely happened in the past!).  Don't get me wrong, we've always been somewhat thrifty (we really stretched ourselves to get into this house), so there were some parts of this year that were old hat for us, but in general 2012 was just a bit pinchier and squinchier than usual, with occasional (frequent?) moments of "AUGGGH I CAN'T DO THIS FOR ANOTHER 11/8/6/4/3 MONTHS!!!!!!".

We found ways to "pretend rich", like the weekend we spent test driving Nissan 370Z's.  We do plan to buy one eventually... like in a couple of years.. but the guys at the dealerships didn't need to know that! :D  That car goes fast! Weeee!!! We relished gift cards (esp. Red Lobster - thanks Doreen!!!) that were given to us as wedding or birthday gifts, and made big shows of those nights out - lots of anticipation, dressing up nicely to go out, and always reflecting back on how great it was to have had such a great meal for free!  And we made plans for 2013, like a 2 week road trip to the east coast.  Planning it in 2012 was nearly torturous, wishing we could go right then, but I just kept thinking "it will get here eventually".  2013 seemed like it would never arrive.. but somehow, here I am, New Years Eve eve, and the last cheque to my parents is written and sitting in my dad's hands, dated for Jan 1, 2013.   And then we're free and clear!*

*disclaimer: we are not free and clear.  we still have 20 years left on a gigantic mortgage, plus lots of little debts tucked here and there, but the payments are totally manageable and the lenders are not close family members who you see frequently and tend to discuss your financial biznatch with on a regular basis over dinner ;)

I'm glad we did it.  It was a tough slog for sure, but like with most things that are challenging, they are usually worth it in the end!  My mom is convinced we're going to stop seeing her and calling now that we have "no use" for them.  She's silly.. they still have that cute dog I love to play with so I'll definitely still visit (HAHA kidding mom).  I hope now she will understand how much I value our relationship fully and completely for what it is, not for anything to do with money.  But my parents deserve such a huge shout out for supporting me through school (undergrad and post grad), helping me purchase my first home, helping pay for our wedding, giving me random "helps" along the way (e.g. my mom's gift of $ this summer to go buy nice dress pants for myself which I had been refusing to do for 5 years!  no doubt she was mortified when I told her I was going to be doing an acting manager job and wearing 5 year old dress pants for my occasional fancy meetings - my goodness!! ;)) and most of all this debt situation which has been countless thousands of dollars over 3.5 years.  They are simply the best and I hope their spirit of generosity is something I can incorporate into my own life.  This may be easier now that I'm at a point in my life where I don't have to shed tears if the dinner/grocery/gas/hydro bill is more than I budgeted for.... (frequent, frequent happening! .. the bills.. not the tears.. well.... :P).

And, as with many things in life, when it rains, it pours!  Jeff's investment property in Stratford (the house he lived in when he met me that he was never able to sell after I wooed him east to Guelph to live with me) which has caused him much grief and headache, and our budget much fluctuation and red periods over the past 4 years, finally sold, just this past month (closes March 1, 2013). Finally, the blood/tears/sweat equity that Jeff has truly earned by being a reluctant landlord in a town full of ruffian renters will be in our bank account and Jeff never has to go to Stratford again (his request - he said maybe we can go see a play there somtime but not until at least 2018 when the post-traumatic landlord disorder wears off). In addition, our mortgage renewal unexpectedly turned up in the mail this month (I mistakenly thought our 5 year term had reset when we moved in here 3 years ago.. turns out it was 5 years from the start of the term which was Jan 2008 - booya!) and we were able to grab a great rate from RBC (figured I'd plug them.. they have been super!) of 2.99% for a 5 year fixed.  Since I secured my original mortgage in late 2007 (happy economy = interest rate of 5.89% = aggh!), blended it in 2010 when we moved (recovering-ish economy - rate blended to about 4.8%) and didn't think I'd ever be able to take advantage of today's sweet interest rates, missing them entirely until it was time to renew in 2015, I am pretty stoked!  We are going to try to pay down an extra chunk of the m-gage each year to try make a dent in the principle (do you ever look at that interest/principle summary at year end?? omg.. terrifying how much goes to interest!), but it's nice to know that those nasty monthly payments will be even lower than we'd planned for the next year (and the next 5!).

So what now? I am going to bid farewell to Gail Vaz-Oxlade, host of 'Til Debt Do Us Part, and my personal guru for tough love, budgets and debt repayment.  I am going to tuck away my chequebook and pen and write no more cheques to the Bank of Brian and Gwen.  I am going to eagerly await a lifetime of travelling that starts with our east coast roadie in August.  I am going to try to LOOK AWAY from my budget (I still have one for 2013, but this budget has some magic built in that I call "wiggle room"!!!).

For the first time last night, when I got a dinner bill that was crazy expensive (I blame the stout-drinkin' boozer I married!), I leaned over and whispered to Jeff: "it's ridiculously expensive.  and I don't care." with a huge grin.  Cheers to loosening the purse strings, loosening the belt, unfurrowing my brow, taking a big deep sigh of relief and saying GOOD-FREAKING-BYE to 2012 and The Year of Debt Repayment.

Cheers to 2013, a happy new year indeed! :)

Crazy Sleeper

I am beyond a crazy sleeper - I'm an out and out nutcase.  Let's revisit some of the ridiculous things that I've experienced or had reported back to me from my attempts to catch 8 hours of shut eye a night.

Sleep Walking
Starting when I was very young, I began occasionally wandering around in my sleep.  I usually have little to no recollection of these incidents.  One night, I wandered into my family's office where my mom was working an overnight on call shift.  I said "hi mommy" and she said "hi sweetie - what are you doing up?  can you get me a diet pepsi?" (always thinking of me first eh) and I said "sure!".  Then she never saw me again, and found me fast asleep in my bed about 15 minutes later when she wandered out in a thirsty haze. 

Sleep Talking
This is my crowning and key characteristic.  I don't get as many stories now because Jeff sleeps like he's dead (once he slept through a policeman pounding on our door and ringing our doorbell at 3 in the morning - oh don't worry, it was our trashy neighbours they were after, not us) so he doesn't hear a lot.  But occasionally the intensity of my episodes has woken him up.  I don't even know where to start.  Those overnight on call shifts were when my mom realized I had issues - she'd hear my non-sensical mumblings from the next room and tease me about them the next day.  When I had sleepovers with my friends in high school, Dawn and Jana would always leave a pen out so they could scribble down what I said during the night. Some gems we still laugh about today: "can we have steak for breakfast?" "today's too cloudy for the teddy bears to have their picnic" or Jana's favourite, the time that I bolted upright in bed, pointing, eyes wide open, screaming to no one "stop! you're going to get me in trouble! put that down!".  ('You're going to get me in trouble' has been a nonstop theme in my sleep talking episodes as long as I can remember - concerning). I had an old boyfriend who I used to wake up with my talking who would engage me in conversations while I was asleep - my answers would grow increasingly more angry until I exploded awake yelling a bunch of nonsense just to find him laughing hysterically.  Recently I dove out of bed screaming to Jeff that no one cares about black bear safety except Lou and I (Lou is a nice older man who donated some land to my organization.. talk about taking your work home with you).  For a long time I've been having long, loud and often angry chats while asleep and the weirdest thing is they never have anything to do with my dreams - so where do they come from?!

Dreams
My dreams are a blog entry in themselves.  I dream every single night and can usually remember at least 1-3 dreams/night. Last night I had a dream about the Christmas Bird Count I'm participating in on Sunday, which starts at 5:45 a.m. on Sunday morning.  In my dream, I was about 15 minutes late getting there, and I saw my group packing up and getting into their cars.  I asked for an update and they reported "you're too late.  we've already seen every Ontario bird and recorded them, even though it's still dark out.  we're going home now." I was devestated. This is just an "off the top of my head" example.  I have dreamt about everything, everyone, in every scenario you can imagine.  I realize that sounds dirty - no worries, go there.. I've been there (you've probably been there with me!! HA!). But it's mainly the VIVIDITY of my dreams that disturbs me.  I often wake up convinced that these ridiculous soap operas I write in my head in my sleep are true and many of my friends and family have woken up to me inquiring about whether they were a) mad at me b) still alive c) ok or whether their a) horses had been stolen b) father had died c) fill in any blank here, I've done it.  I've been mad at Jeff for entire days about things he's done to me in my dreams, including a super weird stretch after we got engaged in which he left me for about a million different reasons (they completely stopped after we got married - weeeird!!). In high school I ended a relationship over a realization I made in a dream - I KNOW HOW CRAZY THAT SOUNDS!  The weirdest thing in the past few years, though, has been my dreams coming true (honestly, read on, I'm not bs-ing).  It started with an old coworker who wore a hat to the office every single day for the 8-9 months I'd known him.  I had a dream about him and in the dream he was sitting in his office, we were talking about his upcoming wedding, and he wasn't wearing a hat. The next morning, I was telling this dream to another coworker when the hat-wearer walked into the office.  I stared, openmouthed at him, as I watched him walk past ("uhh.. morning, Kristyn..") because he WASN'T WEARING A HAT.  What the eff?  Then, just last week I had a dream that I was arguing about the merit of cheesy wedding songs and how the Macarena wasn't a good one, and I thought it should be succeeded by Mambo #5 (an old favourite of mine from high school that I haven't heard in probably a year).  I woke up before my alarm that morning, turned on the radio as I got up, was brushing my teeth and the next song that came on was Mambo #5.  Now, if only I could dream the winning lottery numbers...

Sleep Arranging
I become extremely determined about certain things in my sleep and set to work.  In grade 12, while half asleep (I have vague memories of feeling quite set about my task) I made myself a nice bed of blankets on the floor, turned my shirt around backwards, put on some jeans (didn't zip them up) and went to sleep on the floor.  I woke up that morning in utter confusion.  When I was away on my first road trip for my current job, perhaps buoyed up by the excitement of travelling (ha 2009 Kristyn.. ha), I woke up in my hotel room the morning I was leaving to find my toiletries neatly rearranged on the floor beside the bed, moved carefully off the nightstand by, I presume, me.  In my last house I have blurry memories of being convinced that Pam and James were coming to sleep over and I had to turn down the covers on the bed in the guest room, NOW!  I did a double take when I passed the guest room the next day, then could just slightly remember my fervent hospitality from the middle of the previous night.

Hallucinating
Ah, my favourite.  I'm not as bad as my friend James who has seen pretty much every piece of spy equipment in his bedroom (through the mirror, sneaking through the vents) and hallucinated his cats into interesting scenarios, BUT I've done my share of hallucinating.  The time I could SEE moths fluttering against a motel window, even after I woke up - only to blink a few times, have them disappear and hear pattering rain outside which sounded like fluttering wings.  The time I looked down and SAW an acquaintance of mine sleeping on the floor of my bedroom in my old apartment, and, I sleeping in the buff, found this arrangement highly inappropriate.  I tore a blanket off the bed to cover myself, ran out of the room in a panic and found myself frantically panting in the living room, realizing there was no one in my room.  Jeff caught me a few months back pawing at the air below the ceiling fan, trying to turn on the light (there are no strings, it's controlled by a remote) and that damn fan has been so many things on so many nights, most recently helicopter blades a la PTSD Owen in Grey's Anatomy.  Terrifying.  Hallucinations are NOT fun!, but do make for extreme hilarity.

Is it any wonder I need 8-9 hours of sleep a night considering how much I have GOING ON every night?!

I'll leave it at that for now, hopefully having left you more grateful for your peaceful nights and easy breezy sleeps... next time you wake up after a restful 8 hours, think of me.. huddled in the corner..  swatting away moths.. and throwin' on some jeans...

Crowd surfing

EEP!  I missed a blog entry for November.  Even though life has been crazy trying to hold down 2 jobs for the past 5 months I promised myself I'd blog at least once a month - it's fun sharing my random thoughts, feelings, lists, secrets, analyses and most of all stories about me doing stupid things or ending up in ridiculous, usually unbelievable situations.  There are more of those to come.  This time I wanted to feature the top 5 reasons why I love where I work.  AND GUESS WHAT - the answers have absolutely nothing to do with trees, nature, doing work I feel good about or any of that other blathery mush.  We just had our bi-annual (I can never remember if that means twice a year, or every two years.. every 2 years is what I mean) national staff gathering where 220 people from across Canada including our president, all the VPs, several board members and awesome external speakers (e.g. Chief Scientist from the world's largest conservation organization) got together to celebrate our work and ourselves.  Here's my Top 5 about why I love where I work:

1. We had a talent show on Wednesday night which featured at least 4 coordinated sing-a-longs making fun of all the acronyms we use in our daily work (Jeff says it's like I am speaking in code sometimes).  Personally, I participated in a song to the tune of "TNT" which sang "PMP! It's dynamite! PMP! We'll win the fight!  PMP! Block off that road! PMP! We're saving a toaaaaddddd!!!!"  Oi! :)  At one point our new land management database was likened to a hungry monster trying to eat all of our work - a Quebec staff was dressed in a scary monster mask and growling and yelling while the two staff who built and manage the database tried to hold it back and whip it into submission.  I cried laughing.  A few staff from our Quebec region did a dramatic reenactment of the Backstreet Boys' video "Get Down" which brought me right back to Grade 9, Friday night, watching MuchMusic in my basement with Dawn!  Loved!!!  My coworker Laura wrote a fantastic choir song lamenting everything people hate about our organization "why is National trying to control me!?" "why do I have to get out a calculator for the Net Amount After Tax Recovery on the Invoice Coding Form- it's an Excel spreadsheet!!!!!" - double loved!

2. We did a short version of the Briggs-Meyers personality test during a session on Thursday and a few people were invited to share their answers to the telling questions that help you determine which category you fall into.  A cartoon of an apple popped up on the screen and the woman leading the session said "describe it".  I wrote "apple" (I am heavily a "sensate", not someone who sees things with intuition - if I was I would have said "healthy" or "autumn").  As she's surveying the room, one of our National VPs replies "global".  GLOBAL?!  Wtf.  I spent the most of the rest of the day telling people I was concerned he needed to speak to a psychiatrist.  That night around 2:30 a.m. he said to a few of us over our 8th (or 20th) drink: "I really wish I hadn't said 'global'.  It was what I was thinking, but now people keep looking at me really strangely.  Either they think I'm a pscychopath, or that I'm the f***ing messiah!".  Again, I laughed until I cried.

3. I got to present a "brag book" for Ontario region's successes over the past little while.  My old boss Dan and I were tagged to give the presentation.  We were told to be competitive with the other regions.  Dan and I, without any planning, managed a choreographed entrance onto the stage which involved running, raising the roof hands, a well-timed, surprise high five and during the second iteration of the presentation Dan had us dance up on stage to the Black Eyed Peas (he's in his 40s and has kids, so I'll forgive him if Boom Boom Pow is his #1 badass song).  Ontario unofficially "won" the brag book session, largely due to our exuberance, or possibly because when I told the story of fundraising for money for a boat to access a remote island property, Dan concluded my slide with "we're on a boat" and a sage nod.

4. On Wednesday night we danced.  Oh did we dance.  I quickly lost the sweater and styled hair and was reduced a t-shirt and ponytail and was STILL too hot!  We danced from about 9:00 p.m. on, some of us giving up around 12:45 (me) and some lasting until 4:00 a.m. - whoooo!!!  For some reason Gangnam Style was played twice, and for some reason, at least 25 of my coworkers know every move to the dance including the funny leg kick.  At one point my aforementioned old boss who usually doesn't partake in the dancing grabbed my our colleague Kelly from Alberta, locked elbows with her back-to-back and flipped her over his back.  My absolute shock was quelled when Dan and Kelly performed this for a second, then a third time.  This year, our president and CEO did not do a handstand, but I hope we'll revisit the glory of 2010 another time.  At the end of the night, a small crowd formed around the stage and that's when the crowd-surfing began.  No, I did not crowd surf.  It was later pointed out to me that it was SLIGHTLY awkward having your hands on a coworker's ass (my sentiments exactly) but I guess enough beers will take the edge off anything! :)  My feet were throbbing when I went to bed, but I couldn't stop smiling at how much fun it had been!

5. There was a session given by an external speaker on "Business Etiquette", which I did not sign up for (I think I laughed at it when I saw it on the agenda - I wear jeans to work every day, tank tops and flip flops in the summer because our building has no a/c, and forward all spam emails offering Russian brides or poorly worded offers for college deeplomas to my coworkers - I am informal person through to my heart and that will never change!).  I got a full report on it though - the woman giving the talk was advising never to be friends with your coworkers (they're your coworkers, NOT your friends!!) - definitely don't ever hug your coworkers, a firm handshake will suffice, and don't ask people "how are you?", but rather "are you enjoying the staff conference?  how did you enjoy the meal?".  UGH!  Well "ugh" is apparently what a bunch of folks thought, because my one coworker (FRIEND!) Brenda put her hand up and said "are you really saying we shouldn't be hugging, dancing or crowd surfing on our coworkers?  Because I have done all those things this week." The woman said "you should absolutely not have done any of those things."  In return, the entire room started speaking out of turn: "but our organizational culture is NOT like a corporation! that's how we bond!" "our president hugs people! my boss hugs me!" "we love each other and want to celebrate being together!" - I picture it like a mutiny and the woman having balled up paper thrown at her until she eventually slunk out of the room.  I'm sure it was more professional than that (mildly) but I was happy to hear people sticking up for what I think we're really all about.

And to conclude, the fact that the jokes and drinks never stopped all week long throw a lovely blanket over the entire week and all the reasons I love working where I do. Anytime I'm laughing hysterically where I need to bend down to the floor to catch my breath means I'm probably having a pretty good week. Oh, and I got to hold a baby Spotted Turtle which was part of the herptile display - a-MA-zing! Already excited to do it all again in 2014!