random ramblings

Wow... ok, so my godsister Mary has started to blog, as she posted on facebook, I thought that maybe I should start trying to get mine a little more current and blogging more frequently. So here’s my first day attempt… let’s see how long this lasts!

So yes, Mexico… it was a great break, to say the least… a lot of drinking and dancing and hanging out with my handsome hubby, friends and family. Unfortunately we went when the weather was not that HOT… in know right. Mexico and NOT hot?!?! Let me tell you that when I was packing I brought one pair of jeans and a whole lotta shorts, skirts, dresses and swim suits. My tale of unfortunate events was a little bit of rain and a whole lotta wind, I had to go into Playa Del Carmen and buy a jacket and another pair of jeans!!! I’m over it now though but it just wasn’t what I was expecting.

While in Mexico I got my godsister to do a little fun photo shoot for me, it’s top secret as Derek still hasn’t seen any of the photos yet… thinking of making a little photo album or calendar for him… so shhhhhhh! You can catch a sneak peek of some photos here on Mary's Blog… some are touched up… but my favorite by far is this one.

she captured the shot at the right time, it’s me… au natural. I just love it!

Looking forward now… how ‘bout those Olympics?! Man I just can’t get enough of it!!!

The opening ceremonies where pretty cool; the big polar bear, or the electronic whales that blew out of their blow holes, or how 'bout the Olympic cauldron inside the arena when only 3 our of the 4 arms erected?!?! hahahaha priceless! Love Sarah McLachlan, mmm… that French dude was cool but whatever happened to Roch Voisine?

I watched as we received our nation’s first GOLD on our country’s soil; Alexandre Bilodeau has an amazing story, with that said this title couldn't have been awarded to anyone as deserving as he.

I’m looking forward to the events ahead and hope we continue to hold our position for medals held with victories from both curling teams (my favorite here!), speed skating, and both our hockey teams!

Chrismas 2009

I know it's kinda late, but in the attempt to make room on my camera for more debauchery here are some family pics from Christmas 2009

*mom n pops*

*me n derek*

*kuya and his family*

*justin*

*angelika*

Happy Halloween... I just saved some kids LIFE!

Happy Halloween!!!

So I’m pretty sure that Derek and I saved some kids lives today… but before I get to that story I must tell you the sad tale of how I know my nephew is getting older and TOO COOL to hang out with me :(

So I’ve been taking my nephew trick or treating, ever since I first met him… when he was two, if that sentence confuses you – I’ll have to fill you in another time – year after year it’s something I look forward to, especially now that the kids are a little bit older and we’ve been hitting the neighbourhoods rather than the malls. I’ve been in residency for the past couple of days and not really answering any texts or phone calls, that’s neither here nor there, so I as I’m receiving my marks from my papers and presentations I noticed I had a ton of missed calls and voice messages. There was one from my eleven year old nephew, Justin, which sank my heart a bit…

“Hi Auntie, I was just wondering if it would be ok if I went to a party tonight, Ace invited me over… there’s no sense in your picking me up from there… so yeah.”

Oh GAWD!!!!

I didn’t want to be that aunt, that’s a kill joy… “No, sorry Bud, I don’t think you can go to that party... you have to come with me, around the block and trick or treat…” yeah highly unlikely. You’re probably wondering, ‘what about Angelika?’ yeah she’s got the flu and has been at home from school for a week! So what do I do? I call Justin and tell him that I’m SAD, but he can go to the party and that it’s ok, then… I call Derek crying… I couldn’t help it! I’m an emotional person… ca’mon you didn’t know?!?!? Derek of course made fun of me and went over to my brothers and the trouble maker that he is, told Justin that he made me cry. Meanwhile; I’m still at home on the internet, with my phone still on silent from residency, Justin’s been trying to contact me on my cell phone then decides to just come on over and talk to me, apparently he asked his mom to drive him over. He walks into the living room and as I’m greeting him he says…

“I’m sorry; I don’t want you to be mad! But I’ve never been invited to a party before…”

I gave him a huge hug… and started to cry, just a little bit this time and said, “it’s ok Justin, you can go… it’s just your growing up now, and that’s something I need to get used to” with that he got up and left for his party.

I later got a call from my niece telling me that she’s just a little bit sick and that she would really really REALLY like me to take her trick or treating, inevitably I took her up on that offer.


So… back to the highlight of my Halloween. My parents are ultimate Filipinos that don’t like wasting anything! When we were kids that candy we didn’t like they would hold on to until the next year and would give it away to some poor unfortunate soul. The little kiddies started to come around our ‘hood as I was getting ready to leave to take Angelika trick or treating, mom ran to the door and handed out so candy to the first bunch then went back into the kitchen. I know how my parents are, so after coming upstairs I decided to check out the goods (or is it that bad?).

On top of newly purchased, unopened box of Doritos chips; there were some random mints from restaurants, candies from recent birthday party give a way, and candies I’m pretty sure were from last year… oh and how can I forget chocolate liqueurs!

Me: “MOM!!!” Rushing in to the kitchen/family room (where Derek was watching TV), “You can’t give these to kids” while passing it to Derek… Derek’s face priceless.

Mom: “What?!?!”

Me: “mmmm these Chocolates have liquor in them…?!?”

Mom: “Oh really!?!? That’s ok…”

Derek: “You didn’t give these away did you?”

Mom: “No… oh well, I can give them to the parents!”

So as Derek and I are, literally, walking out the door, three little girls walk up to the house; I opened the door to greet them and Derek frantically broke open the box of chips and hooked them up!!! As they were saying their thank you’s, I said underneath my breath,“we just saved your lives”.

I think the best part is Derek gripped some candies and stuffed his pockets, as we’re driving away from home he shows me his stash; one pack of twizzlers – rock hard, a chocolate that was smushed oozing from its package, and funny Filipino candy’s ube flavoured... Derek likes to think he saved a few more children ;)


I hope your Halloween was as memorable as mine.

simmer down summer…

Well, we’ve been getting some decent weather now that summer is coming to a close… shame. One more day of work for me and we’re off to the Thunder Lake Provincial Park, the first and final camping trip of the summer.

I recently started on a new project with work… back to site life, oOoH how I love it! Jeans, jeans, jeans everyday of the week! The only sucky part is when this project is in full swing and we get transfer to the wonderful trailers on the actual site… the commute will be the only down side. Right now we’re out at the satellite offices by the U of A. It’s all gravy right now, so I’m trying to take it all in, come November it will be a sweet 45 min commute to and from work! Oh heavens!!! I got a few months… so let’s try and not think about it, plus I’m really enjoying the area that we’re in right now. So many things with in the vicinity! Yesterday had me some Booster Juice and today went down the street to Leva Café, I’m not really one to try something new; I like sticking with what I know… you know, to avoid bad experiences, bad food or bad service. But lately taking the leap and trying a new/different establishment has been quite rewarding!

Leva Café – is a quaint little space in the university area, very modern and has some very tasty food! The price was reasonable as it complimented the food portions; I had ordered a grilled Panini and Greek Salad w/ a Large Chai Latte.

As you may or may not know, my parents are WORLD TRAVELERS; they recently got back from a Mediterranean Cruise which passed through Istanbul, Turkey. It just so happened that it was my pop’s birthday last month on the 30th and they wanted to try out a new restaurant… and just by chance the restaurant is called “Istanbul Mediterranean Cuisine“. I passed by this restaurant everyday while going to and coming from work. I must say that I was a little leery about going there… I’m not sure why, I think it was more of uncertainty of what the food was like as I have never eaten at a Turkish restaurant before nor have I had Turkish food… well that’s a lie, kinda, my mom had brought back some Turkish Delight from her trip… it wasn’t that good, so I expected the food to be somewhat the same.

Istanbul Mediterranean Cuisine – blew my mind away!!! Another quaint little space in the Delton area. Their decorating needs some work, in that it could give the space a little bit more of an authentic feel. The food makes up for the pricing… because it was absolutely amazing!!! I have forgotten what I have ordered as it’s been quite some time since we’ve been there… but I do know that I ordered something similar to my brother but he got the spicy version… so get that!!! Check out this article written about the joint here.

Summer sign off…

I can’t believe that it’s already August! Seriously I have no idea what happened to my summer… it’s quite sad, really. I’ve been so busy with work, part time instructing at the gym and starting my own business… the summer has flown by! But don’t you worry all our hard work will not go unnoticed! Derek and I will be treating ourselves to “couple” travel time in September --- We’re booked!

September long weekend we’re out to Vancity to go see my seeestor, Kelly Ann. She’s been out there since April; when we were hanging around the beach and pool in Mexico… she was moving to BC. She’ll show us the sights and sounds of her new home and just by luck… our good friends Matt and Celeste will also be around town too! YAY!!! I love how that randomly came together… I heart randoms.

A week or so later, we head out to Toronto… our dear friends that will be in Vancouver the same we are, used to live there and they showed us a wicked time when we visited them 3 years ago. So we’re sad that they won’t be there this time around to do us another solid… but we’ll definitely make the best of the city and our trip!

We scored some sweet tickets to watch one of my favorite bands --- U2! I haven’t seen them live since the 90’s so I’m super stoked!

Next trip --- Mexico, for Claire and Danny's Wedding! We leave in 156 days... I know it doesn't sound that exciting right now, but it gives me something to look forward to!

Just a Girl

I’ve been a busy bee these past few days… er weeks! So to keep you in the loop here’s what’s been going on the past couple of days.

I got my results back for my video assessment - - I PASSED!!! Yipppeeee for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Went to see No Doubt in concert… Gwen Stefani, how I love thee! I can only wish I too could look as stunning as you after having my two kids… my planned two kids in the future, don't get it twisted people.

And I must mention the biggest jack move of all time, happened to one of my closest and dearest friends Cristelle. It’s a story that must be told not written for the full effect… make sure to ask me about it, next time we meet!

Like every other year, I took the kids to Capital Ex… but this year I had taken the day off because the weekends are too crazy for lines and such. The kids went through all the rides in the first 2 hours that we were there but as the day went on the lines got longer and longer. We took a break from the long lines and went inside to check out the butterfly exhibit, I think it’s been a good 2 or 3 years that they started having this exhibit but this is the very first time that we actually went in.

This year I thought the kids a valuable lesson in financing… unlike previous years where I let the little buggers empty out my pockets for all I got, I gave them both $40.00 to use for food and games and told them, “… this is all you get. Use it for what you like, when you like but once it’s gone we’re going home.” The kids still had money left over but the bigger kid I had with me (my husband) had enough of all the fun that Capital Ex had to offer, so we head ’er home.

This is why I take the kids year after year…

eeeeek!

So I did it! I sent in my tape… “what tape?”

As previously discussed in my last post; I’ve been working at becoming a Group Step Instructor at my gym. After taking the 2-day training course you are required to attend 5 rehearsals and then submit a tape of you leading a class of at least 5 people through the whole routine for grading, to see if you PASS or FAIL.

I taped mine yesterday and whoa man! Was it ever nerve racking, I was a mess the whole day… I know I did little mistakes here and there. But like the 2 senior instructors told me, “You did fine!” and that “they don’t expect perfection… so just submit it, AND DO NOT watch it… just submit it! If you’re a perfectionist then you’ll want to re-tape it”. It was like they were peering into my soul… because I am a perfectionist. It took a lot for me to talk myself into not watching it, I’m glad I did because now I can move on learn the new release that coming out and get to tandem teaching so that I can get better at being in front of class. Everyone says I have the personality to do it. I’m not sure when I should be expecting my grade, I’m praying it’s a pass so I don’t have to do the whole taping bit all over again! Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers!!!

oOoOo and the cutest thing ever… Derek knows how to make me smile after a long and stressful day… actually I laughed out loud for this one.

So, NO, Derek didn’t leave me. We were watching some sort of TV programming and I jokingly said, “babe, if you ever lose a leg or I have to tend to you 24 hrs a day because you cannot tend to yourself… I gotta leave you. sorry. I’ll put you in a live-in 24 hr care center… but I gotta…”.

So, yesterday I got a call from Derek, after his doctor’s appointment. Apparently Derek coming off his crutches was a bad idea, he was only on them for a few days and then we rented him a cane… and then after a few days on that he started just hoping around with no support. Yup… again BAD IDEA he just made it worse. He messed up his MCL and ACL, he now was to wear a full leg brace and can’t play any sports that calls for rotational movements for a year and a half! Crazy right!!! And we play on a Recreational Soccer League! Any ways so when I got home after my taping I found that, picture above, I laughed… found my husband… and planted a big kiss on him.

it's been so long...

Well it feels like it anyways…

It’s been kinda slow at work and my New York vacation fell through so I’ve jumped on a few committees to help plan and execute a few functions.

July 11th we are holding a Hockey Tournament, August 8th is my Districts Family Picnic, and August 12th is our United Way Pancake breakfast.

On a personal level, I’ve been working on my Step Class Instructor program, starting my own business and planning our friends camping trip.

As you can see I’ve got my hands full and to top it all off… I’ve got a handicap husband! Bahahahahaha I know it’s not suppose to be funny, but I always laugh when Derek gets hurt, it’s just what I do :)

He got injured last week during our first soccer game, causing us to lose our first and our second game… just kidding! But on a serious note, he was on crutches up until this weekend when we rented him a cane, and had gotten his knee drained as there was blood pooling behind his knee causing it to swell. He is scheduled to see the doctor again on July the 2nd when they will inform him if he needs surgery. Eeeek! On the lighter side Derek will be attending our games this evening to yell profanities from the sidelines.

With that said I’ll try and keep you posted throughout the summer with the happenings in and around Edmonton… OoOoOoO I almost forgot! My Godsister Celeste just started doing standup, she’ll be performing tomorrow (June 24th) at the Laugh Shop at Londonderry Mall. I’ll try and secretly tape it and post something on here… She’s really good!!

Till next time, keep fit and have fun!
-Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod

Dream Job

I was never really active when I was younger… nor in my young adulthood. One of my good friends actually started to encourage me to go the gym, and I got a lot of motivation once Derek had proposed to me… actually to this day, I still have image issues, but I’m the way that I am and I’ll have to learn to appreciate it.

Recently, I’ve been looking at obtaining a part time job, as everyone cannot complain to a ‘lil extra cash here and there. While in my search I considered various points that would help decipher whether or not I would apply such as; hours - part-time/casual, minimal weekend hours, I have somewhat of a life… and I would like to continue working on my health being able to work out, location - it’s all about convenience, pay - anything over minimum wage would be perfect, and finally attire - being able to wear whatever I like and not having to wear a uniform is ideal.

Well I think my search has ended - I’m taking a course this weekend to become a group exercise instructor! It only made sense, it meet all or most of my requirements; hours – super casual, and hour here and there to teach a class and I’m killing two birds with one stone… getting paid and meeting my healthy goals! Location – I can teach at all clubs across the city including at their affiliates. Pay – not sure what this entails… but I’m pretty positive that they’ll pay for my gym membership which is a bonus considering prices went up just recently. Attire – ultimate! I could totally live in my gym clothes!!!

So wish me luck, it’s gonna be an intense weekend… I’m super nervous, but this is definitely something that I want to do and to top it off I’ve gotten a push from two wonderful godsisters… they believe in me, so I believe in me too!

WEEKDAY UPDATE:

* My first ever RUN - we did GREAT!!! I’m super proud of my girlfriends considering we only had one practice run the Monday prior to. Amanda and I teamed up and Sarah and Theresa were buddies… it took Amanda and I 30 mins to complete… unfortunately I didn’t check my watch when Sarah and Theresa crossed the line… oops! My bad… but they did wonderfully! So proud and I can’t wait to do it all over again… when’s the next one?!?!

* Met my quota for goals in soccer on Tuesday night… got what I call and incomplete hat trick – scored 3 goals, but it doesn’t qualify has a hat trick because I scored ONE goal during our first game of the night vs FC Shinkickers and TWO goals in the second game against the Finger Puppet Mafia. ** New personal goal - get a hat trick this season**

So far…

My friends and I use to do this a lot; going so far with a topic it would end up hurting my face and perhaps causing tears in my eyes (from laughing so hard)… last night Derek and I went so far, check it!

I saw on a friend’s facebook status that the winning ticket for the 49 million 649 lotto was purchased in Edmonton…

The sole winning ticket of an almost $50-million lottery payout — believed to be the second-largest jackpot in Canadian lottery history — was bought in Edmonton.

The winning Lotto 6\49 ticket for Wednesday's draw was purchased in the Alberta capital, the Western Canada Lottery Corporation said in a release on its website.

The jackpot is worth $49,851,871.
No other details — including the identity of the winner, or the exact location where the ticket was purchased — were immediately known.

The winning numbers are: 4, 22, 26, 29, 39 and 48.
The bonus number was 31.

cbcnews.ca

So of course I pulled out my trusty blackberry to check these numbers, Derek had mentioned that he was going in on some tickets with a few guys at work, and myself, I had purchased one while filling up over the lunch hour… funny story; the local Shell station ( 5x the air miles w/ $30 or more fuel purchase) was super busy! The attendant was extremely rude while trying to serve all the customers… As I was paying for my gas I had asked for a lotto ticket… he said, "649? or what? what do you want?", Being so flustered with the way he was speaking, and considering I thought the big pot was for super 7, that’s what I asked for. STOOOOPID!

So now we're hoping, wishing and praying that Derek’s tickets would pull through so that we can retire at the age of 26(k)/28(d).

No luck.

As were climbing into bed we start talking about the numbers that were drawn;

Four – omigawd, April! That’s Justin’s birth month

Twenty Two – That’s my cousin Nicks birthday! May 22!!!

Twenty Six – geez, that’s MY birthday! August 26!!!

What the hell!!!

Twenty Nine – the age Derek is turning next year!

Thirty Nine – 3+9 = 12 : twelve is the age my nephew is turning next year!

Forty Eight – 4+8 = 12 , twelve again? MY nephew is turning 12 next year!!!

Thirty One - that’s New Years Eve… the turning of the year…hence the importance of everyone’s birthdays next year!

Bahahahahahahahaha – this is an example of soooooooo far

In light of this situation, it makes you think what you would do with all that $$$... for myself, especially with that insane amount of mooola I would give my immediate family a couple million each, donate to local charites often, and do what most people would do buy a private jet and take friends and family on trips around the world, buy houses/condos/villas in exotic and well known places... oh the things I would do.

What woud you do?!?!?

Rapid Relief

Oh - site life - how I will miss you… as you have shown and taught me sooo much!

What’s this?!?!? Another notch to add to the love of site life…

Derek and I have recently joined a local co-ed recreational league for outdoor soccer; the team compromises of family friends that I’ve grown up with and extended friends of friends. When our captain tried to enroll us they notified her that we were the odd team out, so if a team didn’t join in time we would either have to (1) wait for next season or (2) find enough people to make a SUPER team - splitting us up into two groups… or like hardcore’s like my husband and I, play both games. The league made it easy for us by scheduling our teams’ right after each other - one team plays at 6:30 and the other at 7:30.


I’ve never been part of a team before and nevertheless played soccer, so I was a little skeptical at first, our first two games were last week and it was AWESOME I never came off the field once and we won both games!!! This week, however, my right quad muscle was a little tight/sore before the game I tried to just work through it, but I couldn’t run… it hurt! So at half time my husband told me to sit it out and stretch otherwise I’ll just make it worse. Well as soon as I stopped moving it got worse and moved throughout my whole upper leg causing my hamstring to tense up. This, was not a nice time… it actually was hurting so bad that it was making me feel nauseous. After rubbing some tiger balm and stretching until the end of the second game I went home to do the whole cold/hot treatment at home. This morning, it felt a whole lot better as it felt the evening after so I thought after my shower I would practice the cold/hot treatment again. I grabbed the ice packs threw in the good ol’ magic bag for a few minutes, thinking it’ll be just at the right temperature by the time I finish drying my hair, as I was staring into my closet to find a top to wear to work… I paused… what’s that I hear?... oh eff! The microwave was still on! I hightailed my little bottom to the kitchen as fast as I could only to find a heavy smoke wafting on the first floor and a very burnt… BADDDDLY burnt, magic bag in the microwave. I somehow set the microwave for 30 mins instead of 3 mins -- oops!


* I blame this mishap, on the fact that it was 3:30 in the morning… had to get up to drive Derek to the airport… he’s in Vegas, remember!?!?!*


I, of course told everyone, all my friends here out on site about the calamity… our project is slowing coming to a close and they started to pack up files, supplies and such today for the downsizing. As they were going through the first aid department they came across some items that could have really helped me yesterday… I know this, because they are sure helping me out right now!

Best things ever!!! Totally gripping some of these and keeping them in the soccer bag... next time I'll be prepared.

slacky slack slackness - with good reason

I’ve been slacking on the posts… I know, but rightfully so, I think. The last few days I’ve been scrambling to prepare for a presentation for a course I’m in; in fact I just presented yesterday evening, it went ok. I get super nervous when reading or presenting in front of an audience… so nervous I have to practice deep breathing and it feels like I have to pee! I’ve been doing readings at my church for quite some time now, so you’d figure I’d be use to it… but I’m not, I figure it’s because I don’t read that often that I still get nervous.

Another reason for my slackyness is Derek and I just got back on Friday from a weeklong trip to Mexico. We went for his cousins wedding and like any other Filipino, of course, I had to bring back pasalubong…

Pasalubong is very popular among Filipinos as it keeps the bond with friends, family, relatives or someone who has a close relationship with you. The gesture of handing out "pasalubong" conveys that loved ones are being remembered while away. Pasalubong can range from food items such as fruits, imported confectionery goods and other sweets (i.e. chips, canned goods and the most common are chocolates). Pasalubong can also be other items such as shirts, novelty items, knives and toys among others. Pasalubongs are often not wrapped and given to someone as it is.

My pasalubong for my niece and nephew were sweet luchador masks… check it!

Fighter Profile Pics:

Toe to Toe:

*DING DING* - fight on:

my life...

I’m leaving in FOUR days for Mexico! ... and when I told my nephew that I would be missing his 11th birthday… to say the least he was upset and so I planned a whole day event to make up for my absence, which actually turned into a whole weekend celebration.

I kicked off our Saturday by making breakfast for my little monsters and Derek, the kids requested chocolate chip pancakes and I whipped up some frrrench toast for the hubby. Then we made our way to Justin’s Tae Kwon Do promotional test… (he's the one in the red).

His promotional tests usually last around 2 hrs... this time, however, it was more like three! I started to worry that we wouldn't meet our timeline and do all the things that I had planned on doing... we quickly grabbed a bite to eat and made our way to our first destination, the Edmonton TELUS World of Science to see the art of the brick

As you can see, everything was pretty sick, it's quite unbelievable that everything is made out of LEGO... I thought that there was going to be more pieces, but then again it was all made by one artist.


"Nathan Sawaya is based out of New York, his creations are constructed from nearly one million pieces they were built from standard bricks beginning as early as 2000… Sawaya’s art form takes shape primarily in 3-dimensional sculptures and over sized mosaic portraits…"



We then went to our city's famous tourist hot spot for a round of mini golf and to get the little guy some birthday presents... he's quite fond of reading so we let him pick up a few books to fuel his mind and expand his vocabulary. I'm all for the gifts that get used, I'm the aunt that gives clothes at Christmas and books for Birthday's, I've learned my lesson through the years... the TOY may get played with for a few days, but they get bored and a new and better toy will be released... clothes are my favorite gift to give because it'll get worn for a good year or two, and how can you go wrong with a good book? I had planned to also catch a movie at the mall but while we were playing mini golf... Derek couldn't resist to get a little competitive and wager a bet; it worked out that if Derek won, he could lay on the couch and watch the Oil game or watch a movie with us... to cut this story a lil short, Derek gave our hometown team some luck and the Oil had beat the Canucks 5-3... I didn't lose our bet that bad either... Derek had won by two points too!

The kids and I did end up watching a movie -

This 3D movie was pretty awesome with a star studded voice cast of Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland, and Stephen Colbert. Watch it... I promise you won't be disappointed!


So that kicked off our Saturday Events... Sunday was a little more relaxed with some Jesus time, a little indoor Soccer Mini World Cup action and some fantastic family dinner time at the Wokkery.


***
FYI - even with the lack of soccer skills I have... I think I could play for the women's Filipino team... my niece could too... they SUCK!!!! it's kinda embarrassing...

*personal goal... play on team next year, at least it'll be good exercise!