Princesses are Not Necessarily Classy...

I knew a girl once who told me that her and her friends "put the ass in class."

That's kind of how I felt last night.

I went out with an Aunt and a cousin. All we knew was that we were going to dinner and a movie. So we ended up trying this new place called "Dacquisto." It's run by a management company that has all sorts of different restaurant "concepts." This one was authentic Italian. OK.

So we start perusing the menu which is only marginally in English. I was good with "Antipasti" and "Insalata." Not so much with "contorni" and "Piatti." But there were explanations, so I soldiered on.

The server hovered. The second one of us would lay our menus down to look at each other or ponder the situation, you could see him inching forward. We allowed him to get us drinks. Diet cokes all around. Several cherries for me, one for my cousin, none for my Aunt. He dropped them off with a flourish proudly proclaiming which had one cherry and which had several. And he was wrong. Switch.

We examined the prices more closely. This place was kind of pricier than we expected. We compromised and decided to just order appetizers and then stop at Mcdonald's on the way to the movie if we had to. (See? Classy.)

The second all three of us lay down the menus he was right there. It was mildly alarming. That coupled with an Italian accent that we all suspected was more than a bit put on...by that point we were thrilled to be rid of him.

We concluded that we would get maybe 5 prawns, a pizza the size of a saucer and a fist-ful of calamari.

Wrong.

There were only 3 prawns.

Apparently worth $4.00 each.

He started clearing the table before we even finished the last piece of pizza. Is it just me, or is that rude? We had been told when our table was needed for the next reservation. We were WAY early, but I guess by then the server decided that we were a lost cause. As it turned out he was right, we were so annoyed by the whole thing, that he only got a $5.00 tip.

My Aunt was mortified that she had suggested this place, so she insisted on picking up the bill. Lovely. And then we went here for some dinner and music. A lovely cafe in a bookstore that has live bands on Friday and Saturday evenings. Perhaps we should have just gone there to start with? It was in the same mall as the movie theatre and gave us a much less uptight experience. And it was far too packed to allow for any hovering. My cousin picked up that bill, so I got the movie.

All in all, a lovely evening. But it proved to me yet again- am I sophisticated? Not so much. Classy? Barely at all. Fun? Yeah, I can pull that off.

Great Big Sea

God they put on an amazing show....




Sleepy now...

xo

First I Tell You Everything I'm Doing, and Now I Give You Work to Do...

So I blatantly stole this from Avitable.

I remember writing about a zillion and a half years ago about Johari windows, but since I label things in such an idiotic way - there's no way I'll ever find this again. Mental note: next blog, label things usefully.

Anyhow, so this is a superfun way for you to either totally trash me or tell me all the ultra fabulous things that you really think about me. And it can be all anonymous-like if you want!

Johari is the nice one. Nohari is the not so nice once.
So off you go...clicky clicky...

http://kevan.org/johari?name=Princess+of+the+Universe
http://kevan.org/nohari?name=Princess+of+the+Universe

And after that? We'll all get our slam books out and totally talk about other bloggers behind their backs. :P

Why Do I Just Keep Telling You Everything That I'm Doing?

So you know how I said you'd never have to hear about my contest again? Yeah, I totally lied.
Cause I have to announce the winners!

Prunella de Ville! You're a winner!
PsychGrad! You too!

I need your addresses and I will send you your superultrafabulous prizes!

Moving on.

So I have this reputation with my friends of being this social butterfly. (Along with a few other things, but let's leave those rumours alone shall we?). Anyhow, in my little mind it's not true. I feel like I'm pretty hermit-like. Nothing makes me happier than getting home at 5:30 each day. Puttering around in my sweats, playing on my computer until TV starts. Going to be at 9:30 cause apparently I'm 80. Bliss.

This week?
Tonight: I went to my person's since I haven't seen her in a couple of weeks and she's due to have a baby like any second now.
Tomorrow: Remember this post? Well, since he won the comic book contest and is soon to be all famous, I thought I would catch up with him in hopes that he remembers me when he's all famous. Maybe he'll cast Jensen Ackles as Blake Undying????
Wednesday: in theory a night at home, but actually prepping for a super important scrapbooking night on Fri.
Thurs: Great Big Sea!! One of my darling ex co-workers got tickets and asked me to go. Yay! For all my foreign readers who have never heard of them. Here's a taste of the joy that is GBS.



Friday: Aforementioned scrapbooking night. Step-sister bonding. Making Christmas presents for my Dad & brother.
Saturday: D2. I haven't seen him on over a month and I must hear about his latest stalker stories. He totally has some married woman dying for him. Both painful and hilarious (well if you're me anyways).

So yeah - while this is all glorious, it's also a wee bit painful. I mean I really like my sweats. And couch. And bed by 9:30.

This is WAY tarnishing the hermit rep that I'm trying to produce to counteract the butterfly thing. What's up with that?

And what the hell is up with two posts in a row where I simply recount everything I'm doing? Ok, I promise more girly fluffiness next time. Any suggestions? Photos of my gift wrap maybe? I could talk about my hair? Brood about boys? Maybe another photo essay proving that I can cook again? I can show you how I make my gourmet tuna melt?

xoxox

On My Weekend and Christmas...

Ok, this is the last time that you will hear about the bloody contest which even I'm sick of. It's over on Sunday. I will announce a winner Sunday eve or something.

Now that I have that out of the way - I'm totally going to tell you about my plans for the weekend. Cause you guys care and stuff.

Tonight: I think I'm going to end up picking up advance tickets to "Twilight" (too lazy to link, but if you don't know what this is, seriously you must be living under a rock). I am going to see it tomorrow with K and her hubby. I think while I'm at the theatre, I may even catch "Australia." (I'll forgive you if you haven't heard of this one- I love love love Baz Luhrmann and see everything he does. Moulin Rouge? Totally my favourite movie ever.)

Tomorrow: picking up bro from the airport. I feel compelled to do some re-bonding with him. He said some stuff to me that upset me and I talked to my Dad about it. My Dad talked to him and he got mad at me. Blah Blah sibling crap. Anyhow, I would like to just move past it, so I think a couple of hours of quality bonding time is all we'll need to move past it. Then, as mentioned, seeing Twilight then dinner at K's mother in law's.

Sunday: I hope to see my person. Will have to check on her schedule. I also want to do my Christmas cards.

An interesting topic came up on Miss Britt's blog today - she said that she hates it when bloggers ask in a blog if their readers want a card. She said that if the writer wants to send a card, then to email and as for an address.
Question: I very specifically haven't done this beccause I was concerned that it was potentially creepy/stalkerish/alarming. How would you feel if I sent you an email saying: "Hi, it's PotU, I heart you. Can I get your address to send you a Christmas card?"
Cause whomever tells me they're cool with it, you'd better believe you're getting an email from me right away. I don't know why I'm so bloody Martha about this, but I love sending out Christmas cards.
Oh, and those of you whose addresses I've already managed to get? yeah, you're totally on my list already.

Ok, back to the topic at hand. There's a Christmas Craft Show going on this weekend too. I think I should try to fit that in somewhere. Along with cards, and gift wrap and baking, I also love love love buying stocking stuffers. It's in my top 3 parts of Christmas- stockings! I keep getting in trouble from my steps because I talk about stocking stuffers around the kids all the time. I'm good about remembering that Santa is supposed to be real and all that, but I can never quite remember that he's the one who's on stocking duty. (Have I mentioned that even as a child, I never really bought the idea of Santa? I can never remember a time when I actually believed in him, I always felt like I was humouring my parents with this myth)

OK, back to work. Have a super fab weekend my darlings.

xo

State of the Union

So I'm at work right now. I am freaking out about the amount that I have to get done - and yet here I am...

It reminds me that quite a few of you lovelies have asked me how I'm doing with the relatively new job. I can give you an idea in general terms, since my new discretionary rule precludes this very topic from my blog...

So this job is a lot more work and responsibility. Some days I love it, and some days I love it a bit less. But on the whole? It's a much better place for me. I feel kind of zen about it. I know that I am working towards something that matters and I know that what I am doing is necessary. That is important to me.

Now that being said, it's a good thing that I've done a lot of independent work in my life. When I worked for a race track, I got sent to off-track locations to do my thing. I would be alone for 6 - 10 hours per day and only have time to scurry to the ladies room when there was enough time between all the races that were about to go. This could sometimes take a while.

My last job was better, I would generally have at least one, if not two other people working with me. But still, there were times when I would have these intense moments of solitude.

And now? I am it. There's my boss who's AVP of whatever and I am my own Universe (and nobody calls me Princess around here). I generally stop by her office every couple of days to ask the odd question. But on the whole? Pretty much alone. I perhaps should remove "able to work in a team environment" from my resumé.

But, my doctor has declared me "cured" from what ailed me. As I've mentioned, I'm now off the crazy pills. And I broke up with my therapist months ago. I have no doubt that I will end up in therapy again, but for now I'm coping. And I very rarely have the dry heaving in the morning like I did for the last 2 1/2 years at my other job. And self-harm? Well, I manage to push those thoughts away more easily.

So "cured"? No. Better? Yes. I imagine a lot of people feel at the very least a tiny twinge of dismay at the thought of being hit by a bus or catching a fatal disease. Unfortunately, I'm still of the camp that thinks that sounds like a release. BUT, I don't think about it all the time like I used to. So no worries my darlings, you'll still have my girliness around for a while...

On the upside of life- I am still enjoying the bus, even though the weather has changed. I have done a large portion of my Christmas shopping, and know what I'm buying for most everyone else. I bought myself some sexy knickers yesterday. Gas is down to 89.9 cents per litre. I think I'm going to see "Twilight" with K and her husband this weekend. (Go team Edward!)

Oh, and so far Pru is the only person who actually entered my contest with any wishes. Is she the winner? Contest closes at the end of the week. (I'm willing to open it up to, give me 3 wishes of ANY kind- just not all "I want world Peace-ish" I want totally selfish wishes)

Ok, back to work. I have 5 more meetings this week to prep for.

xo

This Post Ended Up Being Pretty Random...

I went out with a friend last night to watch her play volleyball. I'm constantly in awe with how many adults are on volleyball teams. Makes me wish I had tried harder in elementary school gym class...

Anyhow, before that we went to a card-making event at a church.
Everyone ooh and ahh over what I created:Because I occasionally channel Martha Stewart, I have to confess, I'm chomping at the bit to send out my Christmas cards. I bought a lot in Boxing Day Sales last year and I totally want to spread the love around. A note to all my bloggy friends email me your address and I will send you an uber sparkly card filled with princessy goodness.

And speaking of sending you things? At the moment, it looks like the first person who actually enters the contest below? Gets everything. Are my little princessy feelings hurt by this? Uh probably not. I could perhaps have come up with some cooler vehicle to do a contest rather than forcing people to do a meme. But still...do it anyways, kay?

On a less needy note....

Apparently, I'm all sporty this weekend. I'm volunteering for a basketball tournament tonight at my Alma Mater. Ahh the things I do for the sake of the Alumni Association. Oh wait, I was supposed to staff it with volunteers. Then I crashed and burned at that since I only had a couple of days notice, so I decided to do it myself. Go Princess for having like, no life.

Although, I have been exploring the whole internet dating thing again. One of the men suggested that we both bail on our events tonight and get together. And by get together, he meant "get together." (Still too subtle? He meant have sex people. I know this is a pretty G-rated blog and all, but c'mon...)

It was tempting, however, since I'm kind of organizing this event and all, it seemed like it might be noticed if no one show up...Le sigh...
Although, he also said we could spend the day together tomorrow. (A potential sex offer on a Sunday afternoon? Seems wrong somehow...)

Since I apparently have a one track mind tonight.... you know what I just discovered? Well, since having no life means watching more TV, I decided to order one of those all inclusive packages a few months back. So I get all the music channels (must find those) and movies and ....(you know where this is going don't you?) porn! I have porn on my TV! Last weekend as I'm flipping through the family section cause I was hoping to find The Chronicles of Narnia, I found porn instead! And it's expensive too! Did I order it?

No. Cause guess what else I found, which trumped everything else??? A Nightmare on Elm Street Package! Nightmare, 4, 5 & 6! Yeah. Totally watched that last weekend. My Dear Anon and I rented all 6 Freddy movies in high school (before the last 2 came out) and did a marathon one Friday night. I was so tired by the end that I didn't remember the last one at all. Too fun. (I was sick last week remember? This was my entertainment for the weekend).

OK, off to cute myself up for my basketball night. Have a superfab rest of your weekend...

xo

A Meme and a Contest

So my darling Dee over at Sexy Whispers tagged me for a meme.
Now I may or may not be interpreting the instructions properly- but I think I'm supposed to list three sexy wishes (or perhaps just wishes in general- but seeing as how it's from Dee, I'll go the sexy route)...

1. Uhhh, well in general how about just getting sex sometime soon? This weekend? Ahem.
2. Ok, how about a bit more confidence? I don't think I'm one of those girls that people look at and immediately think that I exude sexuality. But I'd like to be...
3. I could use some more sexy knickers ( I'm so not a Brit, but I love the word "knickers" so much more than "panties"). I have way too much generic cotton going on in my drawer...

And now, something that's been on my mind lately. A contest dedicated strictly to the girls. (Perhaps this will fix up my blog's sexual ambiguity).

And for once I'm gonna tell you the prizes. They're of two completely different themes...
1. Vinnie's Tamp Case. Uber functional and hilarious.
2. This is obeying the wishes of my darling Random Musings...She sent me some books by blogger Jen Lancaster of Jennsylvania with the explicit instructions that I pass them on to some other deserving bloggers. So I have all 3 of Jen's books to give away in a package.

What are the instructions? Well I'm going to choose the winner all random-like, so don't worry about that...
I think I'm going to tag all the girls to do the same meme that I just did above. Tell me your 3 sexual wishes. They can be as clean or as naughty as you like... (mine would be much more interesting if I wasn't in the midst of such a dry spell...)
Ok. Go.

xo

I'm so Totally Girly...

So my darling Froggy found a site that let's you know whether a blog is written by a man or a woman. It's called the gender analyzer.

According to Froggy, this site is 64% certain that my blog is written by a man.
Uh huh. You know why she checked mine? Cause I have the girliest blog she reads. I wouldn't be shocked to find that I hold that title with more than one of you.

So OK, I'm going to write a wee vignette and see if it has an effect on the results.

So today I met My Dear Anon for lunch and was disappointed to discover that her restaurant no longer serves my favourite dessert. I had to wait for my Dear Anon to get off shift, so I read The Complete Works of Jane Austen. She then joined me and we talked about boys.
After that topic was done to death, we discussed shopping for cardigans. We then went out separate ways. On the drive home I realized that my back was a bit stiff, so I considered calling the spa to make an appointment for a hot stone massage. And while I'm there, why wouldn't I book a manicure and pedicure too? And lord knows I could probably stand to get my eyebrows waxed. I stared outside at the lovely snow and realized that while I should still be restrained from shoe shopping anytime in the near future, I could definitely use some cute new boots.
Alas, Christmas is coming and I should probably save up. Oh yeah, and did I mention that I ordered the sweetest necklace from Wendy Brandes the other day when she advertised that she was having a sale?

OK, I'm gonna pre-post this and see how I do....

UPDATE: It is now 65% certain that the blog is written by a man.

Hilarious...
xo

Teahouses, Mothering, and Generation Gaps

Thank you for all your well-wishes. I've kind of vegged at home for the past few days trying to healthy myself up.

I did go to a lovely teahouse yesterday with some of my Alumni ladies. I find those places to be hit or miss. They can be absolutely divine, and you're thrilled with the charm. Or you can find they they're trying too hard, and you leave feeling a bit hungry.

I thought that this place was wonderful. They served a traditional turkey dinner (lunch-sized) and the three of us ordered different desserts and shared. They had a nice array of teas too (of course). I discovered "Earl Grey Cream." Lovely.

I'm actually kind of picky about my teas. I don't like too many of them. Tea menus kind of remind me of martini menus sometimes. There are infinite varieties of them, but I really only like 2 or 3.
I love Celestial Seasonings Almond Sunset, but I can't find it here in Canada anymore. And other than that, really just give me a nice orange pekoe. Mmmm Red Rose...

Anyways, the ladies and I made some plans to go to some craft shows next month, and maybe go back to the tea house in the spring for an afternoon when they do "high tea."

It's interesting having friends who are at completely different stages in their lives than me. One lady is 49, and the other 69. It makes you realize that at the root of things, girls are still just girls. We all want respect, and fun and time together.

And I admit, I am a bit of a sucker for some mothering. I don't tend to mind it at all. My step-mom and I don't have that kind of relationship - and I wouldn't want it. But from other maternal types? It's fine. Sometimes I do wonder where I would be right now if I hadn't lost my Mom at 11. Would it have made me a completely different person?
Would I be married with children? Or would I be angrier?

It's been 22 years, but I still remember very clearly the highs and lows of living with someone that I now believed was quite psychologically ill. Bi-polar? Maybe. Unhappy with herself? I really do think so. It's hard to look back at it logically without it being tainted by the overtones of a child-like mentality, but I can definitely remember her pain.

Hmmm- quite a segueway from our original topic of tea-houses, isn't it?

Anyhow, I am quite enjoying spending time with these ladies, and I'm glad that I have made myself open to the experience.

xo

This Was a VERY Long Post Just to Tell You That I'm Sick

So I was talking to my Dear Anon a few months ago and mentioned that I was feeling under the weather.
She responded that I'm sick ALL the time.
This both shocked and insulted me. Surely I'm not sick that often...
So to prove her point she went to this blog and counted all the times I'd mentioned that I wasn't well. (This was before I deleted all my earlier posts).

I don't remember the exact number, but it was quite a bit. And Lord knows I don't mention it every time I'm feeling sniffly.

Except today. I. Am. Sick.
Everytime I walk into my boss's office she asks me if I'm going home.
No, I just have a question.

You see I called in sick last month. I've only been here 4 months. I don't care if I'm on death's door. I am going to be here every single day until January. I have given myself permission to call in sick next year if need be.

The problem is two-fold.

1. I have severely bad allergies. I'm pretty sure that when I called in last month it was because of an allergy attack. Which is dumb. I should have just toughed it out and come in anyways. Cause really? I feel crappy most of the time. I pretty much always have a headache. And frequently feel kind of dizzy and weird in the chest. It's just life now. The problem is, I can't always tell the difference between being sick and having a really bad allergic day.

Symptoms:
Scratchy throat - could be either cold or allergies
Headache- could be either (or stress or any number of things)
Tight chest- could be either (again, or stress)
Nausea - stress or cold

So many things could simply mean that I either should go back on my anxiety meds or that I need to up my allergy meds.

So I don't know what to do most days when I don't feel well. (Apparently not mention it to my Dear Anon- I would like to thank her for making fun of me for being sick, rather than being alarmed that perhaps I might have some terminal disease).

2. My last job. (Which I am NOT talking about here). But let's just say that due to various circumstances, I might have called in sick at my last job a bit more freely than I should have. So I think I need to re-train myself to get into the habit of ignoring my sickness and just coming in. I need to remember that I am still new here and that people here seem to come in everyday. In my 4 months, I've seen no one call in sick.

It might even be three-fold!

3. I am a neurotic headcase. I get stressed out far to easily. I can't even blame my last job for this - as I think it's just part of my nature. So if I'm throwing up in the morning? Odds are, it's just cause I'm apprehensive about some sort of work situation. Not an acceptable way to cope.

Anyhow. The moral of all this? This week I just have a plain, old-fashioned cold. And it sucks. And I am coming into work if it kills me. Even though I feel compelled to disinfect everything I touch now.

End post.
xo

I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing

So I was over on AMC's (AKA my blog crush) blog today, and his guest poster mentioned this site.
I strongly suggest you hop on over there and cast a vote.

Now in case you're dying to finish reading up this post before you hop on over there, I want to point out the site's opening line: November 4th 2008 the American people will choose a new president. The president of the United States of America is the most powerful person in the world.

I've been hearing that a lot lately. That the president of the US is the most important person on the planet. In fact one of my favourite bloggers wrote that very thing in a post about month ago.
If you read that post, you'll notice that in the comments I made a lot of commentary about that statement.

Now before anyone gets all up in arms, I am not one of those Canadians who like to criticize her American neighbours. Just because they forget the letter "u" in all their words doesn't make them an inherently flawed people.

It's just the sentiment that bothers me. I mean, how can one country's leader be considered the most important person on a planet? It just seems silly to me. But the site that I pulled those words from? It was created by some guys in Iceland.

If my darling Americans make that comment, I'll just think that they're expressing some national pride. But foreigners? Well, that gives me pause.

You may or may not know that Canada had an election last month. In my mind we lost.
It didn't escape me though that I saw more editorializing on Canadian, American and European blogs about the US election than there was about ours. Now, in our defense, we called and election and it was done a month and a half later. The entire world hasn't been hearing about it for two years.

But, the day of one of our debates? Well it was the same day as one of the US debates. And on the radio that morning, all I heard about was how the DJs were going to be watching the US debate rather than our own.

Now for anyone who's been on this blog for longer than- well this post...you know that I'm all about the fluffy here. I did not watch either debate that night. Politics bore me silly. But c'mon people- we do live here. It's embarrassing to care more about the cool country below us than about what actually affects our day-to-day lives.

And no. I do not think that my PM Stephen Harper is the most important person on the planet either. My Dad is.

No?

Ok, how about this scenario: the President? He gets elected in by the people for up to 8 years. Then no matter what, he's done.

The Queen? Yeah, she's in because of blood. And she's in for good.
The Pope? Elected in by his peers. Until he dies.

If I were to run into George W today. How would I feel? Not much. I would probably be polite- cause well, I'm Canadian and it's what we do. But it wouldn't affect my day much.

If I ran in to my PM? I'd roll my eyes.

If I were to run into the Queen? I would be bowing and sparkly and thrilled to bits. OK, yes, I'm part of the commonwealth- so she's our Queen too.

But the Pope? I'm not Catholic kids. But you'd better believe that I would maybe feel the presence of God radiating from him. And I would probably be bowing and be all calm and peaceful.

In my mind? Policiticans - NOT the most important people on the planet. All they want is power. Maybe some of them want to do good, but for the most part? I don't think so.

But perhaps I'm wrong.
Who do YOU think is the most important person on the planet?

xo

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow...

Hair Yesterday (ish)

Hair Today.
What do you think?
xo

I'm in England Today!

If you love me you're totally going to visit me over here where I'm guest posting today!
xoxo