good television, bad TV

I think I am cutting my cable. I had this great digital cable package and was enjoying all the movies channels and then it all ended. Now, if I actually get home and have time to watch anything there is nothing on.

My plan is to cut the cable and go to Rachel's to watch TV. They have a PVR and tape anything I would likely want to watch. My place is great and the new television is super nice but I was thinking I could be like my own movie channel. Maybe get a Nintendo Wii as well. Movie and video games at my place and any TV shows are watched at Rachel and Chris'. The programming on TV is just not cutting it and I refuse to spend a $100 a month just to have the movie channels when I am home.

Will call Shaw tomorrow. I will, of course, need cable back before Games time. Maybe even HD.

sweet chardonnay

Once again, I am so happy to live downtown. A friend stopped by to split a bottle of wine and some good eats and it was all possible because I live in the centre of the universe. Totally addicted. Cannot go back to the burbs. Will stay here forever. I wonder if there are many kids in this building?

After one of the craziest days I have ever had at work I got home at 7pm and preheated the oven for some frozen mini quiches and cracked a bottle of wine. Even prepped my lunch for tomorrow by cutting up salad stuff. It was great to catch up with a friend I see everyday in passing at the office but haven't had time to chat to for more than 2 minutes. All is well.

Had to email our father today and reply to his request for Sunday stroll with 'I don't have weekend off until April. How about we catch up then?'

One year countdown is tomorrow. Are you excited? I am. We are starting to mark in months rather than years. Woo hoo!

Made my own jeans...kind of

I am huge fan of tailor made clothing since I went to Asia last summer and got two wicked suits for work made for $150 each (that included jacket, pant and skirt). I love all the pieces and feel good wearing them. So nice to not have jackets look like they are 3/4 length sleeves, pants not look like capris and skirts not look inappropriately short.

Santa brought me a few magazines in my stocking and one of them was InStyle. It had a great article on ordering tailor made jeans. The author actually tested two different companies; one high end ($100+) and one low end (under $70) to see what they could produced. You pick the style and color of the jeans and then send a number of measurements. Someone in India gets all the information and they make your jeans and mail them off to you.

I decided to test out makeyourownjeans.com and they arrived last week after placing my order in early January. The total cost ended up being $87 with shipping.

The Verdict
A bit too big (was maybe too generous on the measurements) and too long but I can wear them with heels and for a change my jeans don't gape at the waist in the back. Will purchase more.

Home Sweet Home

After a week in Whistler I am happy to be back in my humble abode. As Grand Forks Dunnets and Chicago Dunnet have not seen the place I thought I would post a few pics. The color of my furniture also explains the hesitation to have young Dunnets over. Mum suggested to cover the furniture in bed sheets but that just seemed over the top and a bit anal retentive. Which is actually how I would be described when it comes to my new place. Margo stayed for one night and I had 3 pages of instructions on the place. I feel like I am leasing a nice car and going to get dinged for every scratch on it when I return it.But man did it feel good to walk in the door after the week in Whistler. I was back for one night to put out a few fires at work but it was a pit stop. Have spent most of the day wondering what I do when I am not working. 7 days straight of work does that to you.Notice I have a real bed. Bed frame and everything. Totally legit. Feel like a grown up.

base out

In event mode working in Whistler and boy is it a break from my office job. Unfortunately, my office job continues so after a good 13 hours at the venue I came back to the hotel and spent almost 2 hours answering 'urgent' emails last night. Are they really that urgent if the person didn't call? Flagging something with an exclamation point does not mean it is that urgent. If you make the effort to call I know you need an answer ASAP.

I have spent the day listening to the urgent and non-urgent voices of others. 'I need a spritz from 11 down', 'Crash on 13', 'There is a line up out the door of the workforce break area. Please hold your workforce departing for lunch.' or ' Training will start 25 minutes later than scheduled'.

People urgently needed to know these things. They impacted what they were doing at that exact moment. So someone picked up a radio and passed on a message.

Now wishing we all walked around with radios rather than text messaging and email. You don't even have to be polite on the radio. No 'thank yous'. Just 'over' and 'out'. No 'pardon me'. Just 'say again'. It is all so simple.

Better get back to my urgent work email.

On the road

Today I leave for Whistler for a week of work. This may sound glamourus or fun (if you're a powder hound) but the reality is a 6am start time for the first 4 days and juggling my actual job while working at an event, living out of a hotel and trying to workout everyday. I am looking forward to the break in scenery but not necessarily the break from my new bed.

I am also trying to spend less on eating out, so this week with no kitchen could be a real challenge. Do I make instant soup boiling water in the hotel room coffee maker? Or just bring a ton of larabars and fruit and eat only snacks for 7 days. I predict I will have to hit a restaurant for a meal at least twice but I am bringing my espresso maker with me and can hopefully avoid too many coffee purchases.

Must run. 9:45am pick up time and I still need to do hair, finish packing and pick up fruit and coffee stuff. Thank goodness I live above IGA and across the street from Starbucks.

Only Tuesday?

I feel like the last two days I have dealt with a week's worth of work. Also started a new routine of working out before work in order to not get panicked at 6pm that I need to get home to go to the gym. Day 2 and so far so good. Might be a bit tougher next week when I am in Whistler for work and need to be at the venue at 6am! That would be a 4am gym time. Not going to happen.

Dinner was leftover pork roast, yams and carrots from having a friends over for Sunday dinner. Gave away some of the leftovers so I didn't have to eat it 4 meals in a row. Much more enjoyable. Now on to the turkey chili I made on the weekend and froze.