Shopping Trip Part 1

*Yawn* I wasn't sleeping all that well before the trip and I'm still not sleeping all that well. Although being the earliest riser means I get up and go swimming and for two mornings in a row have had an entire pool to myself.
















They had rules everywhere in the pool room. One including something about not bringing glass into the pool area unless it was a shatterproof light sheild. And here I left my shield at home. I didn't expect to need riot gear poolside.
















Anyway I'm getting ahead of myself. We got on the road pretty easily. The van is really nice and comfy.


Tanya doesn't always like having her picture taken, but I do.













Day one was a very long travel day. We arrived in Danvers, MA around 1am Halifax time. We had a brief stop at the Super WalMart in Augusta where I bought my years supply of business cards.

Shopping day one was pretty good. We discovered that Massachuests is like the least friendly place we have visited. Some people were nice. Most were not.

















These were taken on the morning of shopping day one.














There are lots of interesting things to see if you're bored of shopping.




















These green cans of Kraut are awesome. I really want to buy a bunch and shoot them, but only if I can find someone willing to eat them afterwards. And that someone is not me.




















One of the highlights of Danvers was Vinnie T's a huge favourite amoung all of us, and the initial reason we looked into going to Danvers in the first place. The one we used to go to in Portland closed and the restaurant in Danvers was the closest. It did sport this interesting sign though:

One for the road

I suppose insomnia pays off if I have time to write a blog spot before I head off into parts unknown. Well not so much unknown, but we are hitting a new shopping town on this trip. It's time again for our yearly shopping expedition to the states. My 2nd run, and I think the 7th for the rest of the ladies. A week of hotels, restaurants and shopping awaits. And hopefully a good number of bookstores to keep my crankiness and antisocial tendencies in check.

So I was at the bus stop the other day, standing way off to the side having a smoke (terrible habit!) away from everyone else and this older lady comes down next to me to light hers saying the girl up there had just asked her "You're not going to light that here are you?". So she moved. She said she didn't have a problem moving away, but felt the girl had been rude about it. Now i don't blame the girl for asking the lady to move because smoke is pretty gross, but i don't really think she had to be rude about it. Anyway that's not really the point of this story, it's just how the story starts. So I chat with the lady for a minute and then move on to the stop when i finish and think I see my bus coming. She tells me to have a nice day, and that it was nice to meet a nice person. This is funny because I'm not exactly known for being chatty and friendly at bus stops. Or anywhere else for that matter.

As it turns out, it wasn't my bus, but the lady had headed up to the stop beside me because she was waiting for the same bus. At this point I'm mostly hoping she doesn't try and sit with me when the bus does show up. She has a few bags with her and points out a pot of flowers in an NSLC bag. I say they're pretty and she tells me she got them at Wal-Mart. The conversation went something like this:

"Aren't these nice flowers, i just got them over at Wal-Mart"
Me: "Yeah, they're nice"
"I was walking outside Wal-mart and I saw them all outside so I picked them up and looked around, but I couldn't see anywhere to pay."
Me: "I think you have to bring them inside to pay."
"Yeah, well i didn't see anyone to pay so I just walked away with them."
Me ".........oh"
"They weren't in the bag at first, but I put them in here when I came over to the bus stop."
Me "Oh yeah?"
"I'm glad no one saw me taking the flowers. It would have been really embarrassing to have been chased down."
Me "Yes, i would have. Oh look! There's the bus, have a nice day".

You never know what you're going to encounter on the bus.

That's all for now, trip updates to come!

Coles Notes

So, it's no secret that I'm a crap poster. It's been ages and the only thing I have posted about is the VHS shelves I made. So without further adieu here is a quick recap of May til now.

May: I finished school! Woot!
Tanya got married! Woot! the wedding was awesome and I was glad to be done with wedding preparations, although it did create a void in my free time after the wedding, because alot of my free time (not that there was alot) was taken up by wedding stuff and school.





























June:

I graduated!















Went out for Sushi with Mark and Julie:









































I'm sure I did other things in June, I just don't know what they were.

Oh yeah, Josh and Tanya came back from their honeymoon and Josh left for Egypt.














This should probably be a picture of Tanya and Josh, but I can't find that one.

Jonas left for his big Asian adventure later that day. So now I'm especially glad mark and julie live in the province so i can still get a regular sushi fix!














I housesat for a week at kims. That was fun, her cats are nice and I got to watch alot of Korean dramas uninterrupted!

July was busy! And fun!














I got to go to the beach with Samira and Shelley for the day, it was awesome. I haven't been to the beach for years. Samira was totally petrified of the sand it was pretty cute.

I turned 30 and it was fun!


























This is from the first birthday celebration!





























Josh sent me this kick ass belly dancing gear from Egypt for my birthday. Not to be selfish and materialistic, but I got a lot of really awesome presents, and have awesome friends. (Not just because they give me really awesome stuff. But it helps ;) )

Other things happened in July, but I don't remember them.

August:














I finally took advantage of the pool. Celeste and I raided moms on our day off and had fun with the underwater disposable camera. Thats me above. Ever graceful.

I also made a brief cameo at Chapters for the Breaking Dawn release party.


























I just realized I look like a frigging hobbit next to this bookshelf. I am so short.















Stephie and I all dolled up for the Midnight Masquerade theme.

And at the end of August the Sushi Misadventures with Mark and Julie.















As it turns out there is not a single sushi restaurant open in Halifax on Sunday for lunch. It was all for the best though. Serendipity struck and we came accross the Mongolie Grill. Awesome. Not a week later I made my parents and sister go with me for dinner. On my 2nd try I got my bowl price down to 13.99!

As we were finishing lunch a giant thunderstorm struck and we got stuck in the rain.
It was all good though because we hit paperchase for backgammon and crappy coffee.









































After an epic battle Mark and I are tied at two games apiece.















To wrap up August I ventured into sports photography. Actually I think this occured before I went out with Mark and Julie. I'm supressing the memories of sports photography. Here is a picture of my obviously faking a smile during a break between medal ceremonies.















And that about brings us up. Sarahs baby was christened yesterday, but I don't have any pictures yet. Maybe I'll add some at a later date. It was cool, although I always thought Christenings happened as their own event. This one was part of the church service. Which seemed rather long. Also God charges cover. I mean you can't NOT put money on the offering plate. Right?

Hmm.. What else. Hit the Alehouse with Shelley last week to see her friend Robs band play. They were good. Saw Bangkok Dangerous and hated it. Saw Death Race and loved it. Work is the same. Trying to get clients, but i'm not especially skilled at it. yet. Heading to the states for the yearly shopping extravaganza soon. Will try to post more often than every three months from now on.