Where are you Christmas… why can’t I find you… why have you gone away…

I haven’t posted in over two weeks. Two weeks. Two weeks is a lifetime on the internet.

The truth is, I just don’t have anything worth posting really. My life is basically been work, work, work. I haven’t seen Andrew in a week. The only thing I could share is the awesome amazing Christmas present for him, but since he reads this that would basically ruin the awesome amazing surprise. I’ve considered an outfit post, but (1) my outfits haven’t exactly been interesting or original lately, and (2) you would probably take one long and instantly think “Jesus, Shannon, don’t you eat anymore?!” Thanks to having the flu, what, four times now I’ve lost a considerable amount of weight (around fifteen pounds). So personally I don’t feel like showing off my resemblance to the crypt keeper on here.

So then, what am I going to write about?

I figured instead of writing about nothing at all, I would try and get everyone in the holiday spirit (okay, and me a little bit too) but sharing my favorite things about this Holiday season. I’ve always been a bit of a holiday Grinch, but there were certain things about Christmas that I didn’t mind. After preforming in A Christmas Carol senior year of High School (I was the Ghost of Christmas Past) I fell even in more in love with the story.

The Cast of A Christmas Carol–2004. Can you see me tucked up into the corner?

But one of my favorite renditions of the story has to be The Muppets Christmas Carol. And I am not ashamed to admit that I have this song on my itunes and listen to it constantly. It really makes me wish that as a group, we could have done a musical version of A Christmas Carol.

I dare you not to let this song get stuck in your head.

Now what other holiday stories chill my frigid, anti-holiday heart?

The Original The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

The Nutcracker.

Batman Returns

Okay, so I know technically Batman Returns isn’t a Christmas movie. But, it does take place around Christmas so in my eyes it counts. And of course there are tons of television episodes of my favorite shows revolving around Christmas that I crack out every year: Veronica Mars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Popular being some of the best. Besides these, I don’t really get into the whole Christmas thing. I’ve never even watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. I’d much rather stick to A Christmas Carol (almost every version, although the Kelsey Grammer musical version from a couple years ago was horrible.) I’m just trying to keep an open mind, get a bit of holiday spirit and get excited. Working retail obviously doesn’t help, but I can hold out hope that Santa has something nice for me this year. After all, I’ve been a good girl.

The two of us are going to play a little game… I think I will call it trick or treat.

Last night was Halloween, and–as promised–here are my pictures of the night. Not only did I get all dressed up for work as the Mad Hatter, but Andrew and I had a lot of fun playing Kurt and Courtney. The night was late, extra late considering that we had an extra hour, and the morning early (I had to be at work for 9am which meant catching the bus at 8am). Now Halloween is over for another year and the Christmas season officially begins which means my crankiness will probably increase as the days get shorter and shorter.

But… in the meantime, picture-y goodness:

The zombies were having fun… the party had just begun. The guests included Wolf Man, Dracula, and his son.

Me and Andrew’s jack-o-lantern: the bat signal.

It’s not secret that of all the holidays celebrated, Halloween is probably my absolute favorite. And if my pictures from last year tell you anything, it’s that–in my house–we do Halloween right. And in style. Now with work, I get to dress up in all our Halloween gear (which I get at a sickening discount). But as far as thinking about the exact day, I’ve had other things occupying my mind such as: my birthday, work, Andrew and my six year anniversary this Saturday. In fact, my first real Halloween celebrating was carving jack-o-lanterns with Andrew. We decided (okay, I begged) to carve the bat signal into his pumpkin. I actually drew the bat on the pumpkin myself, free hand and we managed to work together to bring it to life.

But the one thing I’ve been freaking out about is Halloween costumes. Last year, we had so much as a pair (Edie and Andy) that I’ve been wondering what kind of couple we could be this year. I spent the other night at work trying to come up with ideas, even writing up a list. This list included:

• JFK and Marilyn Monroe.
• Holly Golight, Fred Baby, and Cat.
• Edward Cullen and Buffy the vampire slayer (inspired by this video)
• Gilligan and Ginger (from Gilligan’s Island).
• Batman and Catwomen.
• Bill and Sookie (from Trueblood)
• And, finally: Chuck and Blair from Gossip Girl.

Now while Chuck and Blair was my favorite idea, Andrew was completely against the idea. And we were back at square one. So today we passed ideas back and forth, trying to come up with an idea that would be pretty easy, but still a fun and creative costume. And so we’ve narrowed it down to two possible costume ideas. And those potential costumes are:

Both are potentially awesome ideas (okay, if you don’t read into the stores behind them as neither were happy or healthy relationships… but I digress). Of course, I have no idea what I’m going to be working Halloween, or when I’ll make it to Halifax, but either way I can’t wait to get all dressed up, to have a couple drinks and spend time with friends, and have fun. Because in all honesty, that is what Halloween is about: having fun. Okay, and maybe bite sized chocolate bars. But more than anything, it’s about fun.

And I guess you’ll just have to stayed tuned to see what we choose.

So long sweet summer… I stumbled upon you and gratefully basked in your rays.

part two of how I spent my summer vacation.

There are a number of reasons why I was excited for the chance to spend two weeks in Ontario at Andrew’s cottage (a real vacation. two weeks with Andrew. ect.) but one I didn’t learn until just before I was leaving and that was a pizza brand exclusive to Ontario and Quebec called Pizza Pizza. Now, while I love Nova Scotia and Halifax, sometimes our eating out gluten-free options can get repetitive (and especially expensive.) Sometimes you just want to be able to order a normal pizza. Which brings me to an exciting moment on our trip: the best damn gluten free pizza I’ve ever tasted.

yes, that pizza tasted as good as it looks. The ingredients we chose were: broccoli, zucchini, black olives, green pepper and pineapple. (no cheese.. totally did not need it. I never realized how good cheese-less pizza was!)

they bring you your pizza sealed, then open it right in front of you. the bottom of the sticker warns you the pizza was made in a facility containing wheat products, but I had no problems.

Andrew didn’t love the crust as much as I did, but we both agreed it was really good.

There really aren’t that many mainstream gluten-free pizza options in Halifax. The only one I can actually think of is Pizzatown, and unfortunately our experience with that place means I’ll probably never order their pizza again, especially after having this pizza. It was delicious. It was filling. It was pretty much everything you want in a pizza, minus that whole having to make it yourself.

Pizza wasn’t my only adventure while away–I also tried kneeboarding. Tried being the operative word. I wish I had pictures of this disaster of a time, but unfortunately I was too busy falling off the knee board to take pictures. Don’t get the wrong idea. I had an absolute blast trying, but unfortunately it was a little embarrassing when I lacked the ability to both balance enough to make it ten feet without falling over, or the ability to lift my body onto the board (or the boat!). Tubing, on the other hand, worked out much better for me. I fell of a couple times, and managed to scrape the heck out of my elbows doing so, but it was a blast. Especially when it was me, Andrew and his little brother in the three person tube (which we eventually broke!) and I was flying all over the place. Also enjoyable was being tossed from the tube when I was tubing alone, skipping across the water on my back (I was wearing a life vest, naturally) until I came to a stop, and just kind of rested on the top of the water for a couple seconds before I started to sink. It’s unfortunate the Seadoo wasn’t fixed until the day before we left. I would have loved to be able to get out on it more, even though it scared the hell out of me.

Other things (without pictures) that happened:

• Fell in love with the baby loons floating across the lake.
• Saw the cutest chipmunks.
• Learned how to play rummoli.
• Almost stepped on a garter snake. He was adorable… after I finished screaming.
• And swam, swam, swam.

And now, some more random pictures of my summer vacation. It’s an shame I’m not going back to school, as I could have written an awesome essay.

those are rain clouds. Unfortunately we saw those a lot.

but without rain clouds… no rainbows!

gluten-free beer found in town. much less expensive then at home.

we’re gangsters.

Osprey which flew (far) above us when we were on the boat.

My pre-knee boarding look. You can take the girl out of the city…

Andrew’s knee after he attempted to show off and stand on the knee board. He slipped completely wiped out, and hit the hard plastic hook at the front.

the cottage.

the sauna.

the floating dock I loved sinking and jumping off (it was so fun.)

the seadoo which unfortunately was broken until the day before we left.

And the tube we had a blast breaking.

And finally, the skies over Halifax. We had much more turbulance on the way home, even though it wasn’t raining. I actually was close to tears at one point. But everything was okay.

We shed our clothes and felt romantic… tinted by the moon fantastic.

aka: part one of how I spent my summer vacation.

It’s been a whirlwind two weeks, but I am now officially back home, laying on my own bed as I write this. I kind of wish I had written down everything that has happened, but unfortunately I was spending more time out and about having adventures (although, unfortunately, not nearly enough adventures) so I will try and recap my entire cottage trip through the many pictures I took. So here we go… I’ll try to sum up everything nicely.

I woke up at four in the morning so that my Dad could drive me and Andrew’s mom to the airport for our early flight. We were leaving just before seven, and had to be there and hour early and it was an half hour to the airport. This was my first ever flight I can remember (the others being when I was a baby) and I’ve always been terrified of planes. But for some reason, the day of, I wasn’t as terrified as I thought I would be. The above picture was taken a couple minutes before we started boarding. Halifax was super foggy, rainy and gross. However, my early morning starbucks coffee made up for that fact.

Our layover was in Montreal, and although I only saw the airport, it was pretty cool. It has an apple store right there in the airport! The second plane we got on was smaller than the one from Halifax. It had propellers, and I sat by the window. Again, it was pretty darn rainy and gross in Montreal. This plane took us higher north in Quebec (Rouyn-Noranda) where we then drove another hour and a half, through more rain, to where Andrew’s family cottage was located. You have no idea how excited I was to see him. And that day they were having a celebration in honor of Andrew’s grandmother who passed away earlier this year. It was a little overwhelming, and I ended up taking a little nap since I was EXHAUSTED. I woke up just in time for veggie burgers, smirnoff ice light, and my first ever real sauna.

This was one of the things I did a lot while I was down there. Floating around in the sunshine, having drinks, taking pictures, listening to music and just having fun. You know I was little nervous about spending two weeks with Andrew’s family, many of them I’d never met before. I’m shy. But there were all so open and welcoming that after a couple days, it really wasn’t scary at all. It was nice. It almost felt like–dare I say it?–I belonged. Which was beyond wonderful. Sure, I was still a little timid and shy, but then again: I was around his family. But spending hours lounging on a boat in the sunshine, you can’t hide within yourself. So I had to open up. And I had a blast doing it. (Okay, the wine and vodka coolers didn’t hurt either.)

That my friend’s is a golf course… right across the street from Andrew’s cottage. Yes, some millionaire bought a bunch of land so he could cut down trees (and destroy paths that Andrew remembers exploring as a kid). Can you believe it? Let’s destroy nature so once every couple years I can play a game of golf. Personally, I think going away to a cottage means relaxing, having fun in nature. The again, whoever heard of a three story cottage?

Now, as I was saying, whenever it was sunny we spent a good chunk of time out on the float boat, enjoying each others company.

See that bathing suit top? Cute isn’t it? Well, unfortunately shortly after this picture was taken said bathing suit top broke. Meaning the little plastic clip in the back completely snapped and I pulled a Janet Jackson on a boat full of Andrew’s family. Thank god I have tiny boobs because I was holding them. Thankfully someone grabbed my shirt for me to wear while Andrew attempted to fit my bathing suit top for me. (Those sunglasses Andrew’s wearing are also my sunglasses. But they suit him surprisingly well, don’t they?)

Who knew that broken hair elastics could be so darn handy? This was actually the second time one of those plastic clips broke on me during the trip (the other being a bathing suit borrowed from my sister) but needless to say I’ll be buying tie suits from now on.

My dragonfly friend who did not want to leave me. He was literally sitting on me for a good twenty minutes and then decided to go on his merry little way. There are so many dragonflies up there, and I find them so beautiful. The blue ones were really cool too.

That’s just the beginning of both my pictures and my stories. In the next installment I’ll tell you all about my wake boarding adventures, the best damn gluten-free pizza I’ve ever tasted, and much, much more. Suffice to say: I had an amazing vacation, and I honestly can’t wait to go back again someday. I have so many stories, and not nearly enough pictures, but I’ll try and do my best to share everything.

Here comes Peter Cottontail… hopping down the bunny trail…. hippity hoppity Easter’s on it’s way.

We won’t stand for hazy eyes anymore….

Two days into “Spring” break, and it sucks.

Okay, that wasn’t positive, but so far into this spring break I’ve been fighting the Mike Tyson of colds (and he’s winning) and now, because of that bitch of a cold, I have pink eye. PINK EYE. You know, that things that elementary kids get because they keep sticking their fingers in their eyes, or something. But, according to Wikipedia, Pink Eye can also be a beautiful side effect of a particularly bad cold, or sore throat. Oh, Mike Tyson, you play dirty.

I also just love reading that it can last up to three weeks. Because who doesn’t want to come back from Spring Break with a contagious disease?

Thankfully I didn’t have anything huge planned for my break excluding watching teen movies, playing video games, catching up on both reading, and writing. However, I had planned on going over to campus for both a meeting with Carol about my writing and to work on a couple projects. Right now, I definitely don’t feel like leaving the house or having anyone see me. I don’t even want to go shopping (forget the fact I don’t have money–not important). And with a throat that feels like sandpaper, and now this eye… well I don’t have high hopes for the rest of my week getting any better. Hopefully, maybe by Friday, I can feel good enough for birthday celebrations with friends. I have yet to take the pants out on a worthy adventure, and downtown dancing is definitely a worthy adventure.

And I can not let this entry end like this.
I need something better to offer than “pink eye”.

And so, for your viewing pleasure, the three purses I picked up on a shopping trip to Frenchy’s on Sunday with my mother. Frenchy’s has always been my favorite store, not only because it has scored me not only a black Vera Wang dress, but also my Yves Saint Laurent men’s dress shirt which is probably one of the most comfortable shirts I own and one of my favorites hands down. Sometimes when I go to Frenchy’s I find myself a cute shirt, the perfect jeans, an adorable dress, and on this particular occasion I was more in an accessories kind of mind. And so we have my three purses of choice, and the spring-like scarf I just fell in love with the second I saw it.

(And please excuse the crappy webcam quality pictures. Left my camera at in my friend’s kitchen after a night of drinks and that is where is lies, safely, until I make the journey up the street to rescue it.)

What I love the most about these purses is how different the three of them are. The gold one is this sweet and innocent romantic purse. The snakeskin purse is sexier, and would be fun for  a night of dancing. And the fringed purse reminds me of something a rockstar would carry, and I have a feeling I will be using a lot this summer. And how much did all three of these purses cost me. $9.25 plus tax.

And I would say the “rockstar purse”, as I’ve dubbed it, is probably my favorite of the three of them. It was the purse which caught my eye first and I just had to have it. It’s so original, and I love the personality of it.

Now I’m off to fill my afternoon with sugar-free popsicles and broth and Mario Party 8. It may not be Cancun, and there may be too much snow on the ground, but it’s my version of Spring Break and it’s all I have and so I’m going to live it up, even if I have low-cal Grape-Cranberry juice instead of Pina Coladas and Uggs instead of bikinis.

Fill my heart with song, let me sing for ever more… you are all I long for, all I worship and adore.

Lately I’ve been posting about clothes a lot, haven’t I? This particular dress was given to me by Andrew for Valentine’s Day, a complete surprise. As much as I adore this dress, and have coveted it for ages upon ages, I never actually thought Andrew would (A) buy it for me, or (B) think to go out and buy it for me. But it’s funny, because for Valentine’s Day I also bought him something to wear, a shirt from XKCD, which is his favorite website. We’re a fashion couple, I guess. It’s all about the threads.

Our Valentine’s Day was simple, much simpler than we even planned. But after some pretty devastating news on Friday night, dinner together & a couple movies (plus some Wii bowling) was exactly what I needed my Valentine’s Day to be.

Just the two of us, together.

♥

Dress me… I’m your mannequin.

A lot is going on right now. Originally, I had a Valentine’s Day themed post about love prepared. But unfortunately–and for reasons I don’t really wanted to get into, but not related to love of anything of the like–I didn’t feel like finishing it, let alone posting it. So instead I thought I would do something not so sentimental, but just what I need right now. Something silly, and fun, and fabulous.

These are my fabulous, brand new pleather tights. My sister thinks they are the ugliest thing alive, but I have to admit I haven’t been this excited about tights in a very long time. Of course right now the only place I can wear them is inside (especially since it’s snowing outside, again) but I had to have them.

Now I just a place to wear them, beside the grocery store.

My funny valentine… sweet comic valentine… you make me smile with my heart.

It’s February, and you know what that means: Valentine’s Day. ♥

I have to say, even though I’m a pretty anti-holiday person, I have always loved Valentine’s Day. Halloween may be my favorite holiday, but Valentine’s Day could be a close second. When I was a kid I was really obsessed with it. I loved filling out those little paper Valentine’s and giving one to each one of my classmates. In fact, I still love buying those Valentine’s and giving them out, even though I couldn’t imagine doing it in my University classes. It may be one of the most commercialized holiday’s, but I will always love it for some reason. And it’s not the chocolate–no, it’s definitely not the chocolate.

I’m big into trying to find the perfect gift for Andrew when it comes to Valentine’s Day, not so much something you have to buy, just something perfect. However, after almost 5 & half years and six Valentine’s Days together, figuring out the perfect gift gets harder and harder. To be honest, I have no idea how people who have been together for 10, 20, or even 70 years know what to get that other person! But, I always try to come up with something wonderful for Andrew, and once again this year I think I figured out something he will love, and not only that, but will make him smile. And to me, Valentine’s Day is all about that: making the one you love smile.

This year we’re planning on a lower key Valentine’s Day—staying in, making supper (yummy healthy supper), watching a couple movies, maybe play some video games. We’re just going to relax and be together, and have fun. I’m making him something sweet, and have been a little gluten & dairy free Martha Stewart this week, trying to find the perfect tofu frosting. I can’t wait to surprise him with my baked creation. I’m still trying to figure out how exactly I’m going to decorate it (and debating between cupcakes or a heart-shaped cake) but no matter what, I know he will love either. And I dig that.

Happy Valentine’s Day.