Just Getting a Few Things Off My Chest...

Dear Joss Whedon,

I know it was a supercool set and all, but the Dollhouse looks just a wee bit too much like Wolfram and Hart. Every time you do a scene there I keep expecting Lila or Lindsay to walk by...
Work on that kay?

Love,
Angel's biggest fan.

Dear Mr. Bus Driver,

I know that you're trying to arrive at your destination quickly, but the fact remains, it's rush hour. So gunning it, then braking quickly every few feet just results in a nauseated Princess, and doesn't get me to work any faster.
Please re-take your driving-a-bus training class.

Signed,
A Gravol toting Princess

Dear ALL students wandering around my work,

Please. Watch where you're going. The world doesn't revolve around you. There ARE other people around. Next time, I'm going to bump in to you, just to prove a point. And I'll do it hard.

Cordially,
A struggling-to-remain-calm staff member

Dear Salon Owner,

I love you. Why oh why does there have to be a two month wait before I can get in to see you? Now that I cut my hair I have to maintain it. I can't just get one haircut a year anymore. You love me too right? Please cancel whomever you're seeing this Saturday and squeeze me in, OK? I'll bring you cookies if you do....

Kisses,
Your devoted client and fan

Dear Jensen Ackles,

I love you.
Or I'd like to anyways. At least for one night.
Call me.

D

Wasn't Dionne Warwick Related to Whitney Houston or Something?

I'm having one of those days where all the little errors or not-quite-diligent-editing moments are coming back to haunt me all at once. Annoying. I generally try to be on the ball at work, but apparently today is just not my day. (As yes, some of these errors are from today...really, I should just go home now).

It's weird how the stars align sometimes. I tend to get annoyed when people get all astrological on me, but I occasionally think there might be something to it.

Why am I making errors today? Why are errors that I made months ago just coming up today? Why would I lose two followers on my blog today? One I can understand (well not really, I mean why would anyone voluntarily give up reading the fabulousness that is me?), but suddenly two on the same day? Weird.

Back to the astrology thing for a moment - as I said, I don't buy into that crap. But I do think there is "something" going on in the universe that can't always be scientifically explained away. I do believe in the concept of "meant to be."

Not 100% of course. I also believe in free will and all that jazz. But sometimes...I don't know, sometimes it seems like things align for a specific reason. In my life, this seems apparent when I consider the topic of jobs.

I firmly believe that someone wanted me to work at my last job. I had a zillion and one interviews, and was only offered a summer position at my last place for two months after the interview (not the job I interviewed for, the consolation prize). I was convinced that in two months I would have a permanent job, but left the door open.

And sure enough, two months later I was still jobless. And by the end of that summer they offered me a permanent position in the other company housed in that building.

Now as you all know, I was quite unhappy with that job a long time. I kept wanting to quit, but it seemed like circumstances kept preventing me from doing so. This went on for a couple of years. And sure enough, in my last 6 months there, I ended up with full responsibility for some projects I had only assisted on before.

Had I left two years earlier I would have: a) not been given managerial tasks on those projects, and b) would have thought that I was simply bad at my job, and that was why I had to leave, instead of realizing that it was a personality conflict that made me so unhappy. All this has resulted in a much better paying job, confidence that I wouldn't have had otherwise, and a lot more peace of mind.

But astrology? Psychics? Entertainment. Period. I enjoy me a good psychic visit every once in a while, but I have never found one that's told me anything shocking, or accurate. I won't call them frauds, I'm certain they do have "feelings" or sense things, but it's just never really worked for me.

But on days like today, I can't help but think there's something going on out there. It just seems too coincidental that a bunch of these things seem to be happening at once.

What do you think? Or more to the point, what do you believe?

Beacause Everyone Else Is Doing It...

Wanna be a hero?

An Outed Princess...

I gave into peer pressure and finally did that "25 Things About Me" thing that was floating around Facebook. The first point I made mentioned this blog. So yesterday my brother-in-law was asking me all about it.

It was actually more of a challenge than I expected to answer the question (especially in the incredulous, confused tone that he used) "so why do you have a blog?" Explaining it to someone who neither reads blogs, nor (apparently) has ever kept any form of journal or diary is more than a little bit challenging.

Though I was the one who put it out there, I didn't expect to be cornered like that. Suddenly I felt like I was doing something wrong. Like having a blog was some sort of dirty secret. And not a particularly interesting one at that. I told him to read it, and he indicated that he had been bored and done so. I have no idea how far he went. Did he read about profiles on dating sites? About how unhappy I am with my life? Well, I did it to myself right?

It was impossible to adequately explain the friends I've made, and the sense of community that exists here. I thought about mentioning the fact that I just received a bloggy Valentine in the mail a few days earlier. (Thanks Kimberli - I loved everything, especially the heart warmer hot water bottle!) but somehow I didn't think that would help anything.

And after a few minutes of explaining about link lists, and how everything in a blogger profile is clickable, which is how you can find people with similar interests the conversation began to wane. Honestly, I don't really think anyone in my family (step or blood relative) would really find me interesting enough to read regularly anyhow.

But at least now I've given myself a reason to really watch what I write. I completely understand and advocate anonymous blogs, but I don't think I should do it anymore. I have it in me to be whiny and gossipy, and I think if I know that everyone in my life might be reading this, it will prevent me from doing so. (Please note that this does not mean I'm going to be posting my address and phone number on here - although I'm becoming increasinly aware of what a stupid user name "Princess of the Universe" is - that may change...)

So yeah, any new friends and family who might now be reading this? Hi. As I mentioned, you may find out some things on here that you really didn't want to know. And as for why I do it? Ugh. Start one of your own and maybe you'll understand.

Kisses!

On Friendship...

I was reading Janelle's blog earlier today, and she was talking about friendships and girlfriends and feeling like an accessory.

This prompted me to actually sit down and write the post that's been bouncing around in my head lately kind of on the same topic.

I've always had more friends than I knew what to do with. On the whole, I like to think that I'm pretty considerate and reliable when it counts, so I don't find it hard to maintain a circle of girlfriends. I can be silly and sit around and eat chocolate with you, I will throw you a shower when you get married or have a baby, or I will listen when you want to cry. I don't view any of these things as burdens or challenges. It's just what you do.

As I've gotten older, I've found that my circle has gotten smaller. Some friends have moved, some have drifted, and of course there are the expected numbers of friends that you fall out with.

When Janelle mentioned that she felt like an accessory with some people, it struck a nerve with me. I kind of felt that way with a couple of my friends. I think it's the perfect word to describe my role in the friendship actually. "Accessory." It happens pretty often unfortunately.

I still have my core group of good friends- My Dear Anon, My Person, K, etc. But that list? That's certainly not "more than I know what to do with." And 2 out of the 3 of those people are married with kids. And you know what? They're quite content with their lives. Not to say that they don't enjoy my company, but they are certainly not at leisure for me to call them at any time to go to a movie, or a manicure, or anything else without vast amounts of planning and arranging...

Making friends as adults is a much harder business than I expected. I had the potential for it with a few different girlfriends over the past few years. Things would be moving along, and I would get quite attached to them, but then...something would happen. I'm not sure what, but it never went past the odd lunch or shopping day. It never developed into giggling phone calls, or quiet confidences, or any kind of need to get together. And so, the drifting would occur, and we became little more than facebook friends.

When my person got married, my father said that he expected that we wouldn't be as good friends anymore. Now of course that would never happen with me and her - but I wonder if there isn't some truth to that with some of the other potentials.

Is it like Carrie Bradshaw asked- "Is there a cold war between marrieds and singles?" Sometimes I wonder if that's the case. If you don't even have that basic thing in common (married, with toddler, or something like that) then perhaps you don't have enough to build on?

Now don't get me wrong- I'm not really lonely. If I threw a party, I would have more than enough people there. But these unfulfilled friendships really got me thinking about what it means to connect with people as an adult when you no longer have something like school in common. It was so easy back then when you shared classes and cafeterias and clubs.

Making friends as an adult? It seems like you really have to work at it to make it happen. And more often than not, you end up with something that either just had really good potential, and didn't pan out - or something like an "accessory" relationship that ends up being so shallow that you almost wonder whether staying at home on your couch isn't a better option.

Le sigh. I guess that's one of the differences of being an adult vs a child. Being an adult equals work - in every sense of the word.

xo

Once Again I Paint Myself as a Goody Goody...

While I can't say I'm the poster girl for confidence and oozy sexiness, I will say that I've never considered myself to be dumb. I'm by no means a mensa candidate, but neither am I one of those people who fear to ask a question when I don't understand something for fear that I will be considered stupid.

However, I also tend to go along in life, blithely assuming that pretty much everyone in the world is intelligent. I mean maybe not everyone is smart at everything, but for the most part, I kind of believe that everyone has their strengths and "stupid" is mostly situational. ( I mean really, can any of you say that you've never said or done something inexplicably dumb??)

For the most part I always assumed that if I caught someone doing something stupid, and it had an effect on me, that it was probably a misunderstanding. Or perhaps they were having an off day. Or perhaps, they were simply in an area that is beyond them. (I'm sure my Honours Stats professor still thinks I'm the biggest moron he'd ever met, but I still managed to get my degree)

I would never call someone, as a general assessment of their character, "stupid." That is one of those words like "slut" or "ugly" that I would simply never use for someone. As far as I'm concerned, it simply reflects the ignorance and cruelty of the so-called "superior" person when they call someone those names.

Now after all that moralizing? I have a confession.

In the past few months, I've met two women who, after careful assessment of their behaviour, I am struggling to not conclude that they're stupid. Their actions have puzzled me exceedingly, and I have tried again and again to sort out what it is about them that's so vexing. Since stupidity is such a foreign concept to me, it wasn't really a conclusion that would readily come to mind.

Now aside from the fact that I think it's a cruel, ignorant thing to say about someone- I also think that calling someone stupid is kind of lazy. It's like calling someone "crazy." There is no such thing as "crazy" really. There's delusional, depressed, obsessive, bi-polar...and a whole menu of options. "Crazy?" It's just vague and too inadequate a word to fully explain what someone is really like.

"Stupid" I think is the same kind of word. However, I will confess, it's convenient. Otherwise, I need to use a rainbow of adjectives for each woman to really explain what it is about them that is so problematic for me.

Woman One:
- Selfish
- Unobservant and/or uncaring of the reactions and feelings of others
- inattentive to instruction
- does not pick up on social cues
- nagging
- demanding


Woman two:
- not resourceful
- lacks initiative and/or follow-through
- inconsiderate of others' time
- procrastinator
- needy

Does the sum of each of those lists equal out to stupid? Maybe. Maybe not. I'm reluctant to use the word, but my anger with each of them is really making me want to. You see because calling them stupid? Shows that I am angry enough with their behaviour to insult them. By giving them that list? It shows that I care enough to take the time to really look at their behaviour and motivations. And really? They don't deserve it.

Yeah, it's a moral quandary.

I Don't Want to Date Anymore...

So a long time ago (like the junior high or high school era) I decided that if I had to lie or cover up something that I was doing, or planning to do- then it probably wasn't a good idea to do it in the first place. Sounds logical right? Not always. It's surprising how often I've found myself repeating that mantra to myself over the course of my life.

But since I'm rather a goody-goody, I kept up the mantra, and for the most part, it's kept me out of trouble. And consequently, I have relatively few skeletons in my closet.

Now remember how I told you that I signed up for the "other" category on the dating sites? Well, I met one guy, and corresponded with another (well there are a lot more than that, but only two that are really relevant). The one that I corresponded with was going through a divorce and actually seemed normal and ...sweet. It was weird. He was completely unlike the others that I had met on there.

So we agreed to meet. And then I decided that I didn't want to be in that section of the site anymore. I decided that as fun, and sexually liberating as it was, I just didn't want to go there. I didn't want to have something like that in my life that I was not willing to talk freely about. So I cancelled. But he didn't care about simply meeting me for sex. He just wanted to meet me. He was in the dating section of the site too, and said that he would be happy to just get together for a drink.

So I agreed. We were to get together a few weekends ago. But this time it was his turn to cancel.
his wife got the papers and didn't want to go through with it. She wanted to go to counseling. She wanted to try to make things work. So I wished him luck and well, and agreed that I was OK if he occasionally sent me the odd email - assuming of course that I would never hear from him again.

But I did. Less than a week later.

He still wanted to meet me for a drink sometime. He said all the right things. About how sensual I was (in my profile anyhow) and how much he really just wanted to see me face to face. He said there would be no pressure and that he understood completely if I said no.

I considered it. I really do think that he's a decent guy. I mean he didn't have to tell me about his wife right? I think he deserves points for honesty. (Ed. not: I realize as I write this that I sound like a completely naive little girl...perhaps I should have written this all out sooner).

Anyhow, I responded to the invitation with a hesitant negative. I doubted the appropriateness of such a thing. For a variety of reasons. Why would he risk upsetting his wife? How would she feel if she knew? What if I liked him? (oddly, this was the least of my worries - I very much doubt that I have it in me to fall desperately in love after one date- does that really happen in real life??)

He assured me that him and his wife were not exclusive and that he wouldn't do anything that he regretted. Although he did leave the door open for me to find him irresistable, and who was he to turn me down? Again, he assured me that there was no pressure. So I tentatively agreed to meet him this weekend.

But when I found myself describing the situation to K and My Dear Anon, I realized that I was making it sound like I had already closed the door. Because I knew that it wasn't a good idea. And both of them agreed with me that it wasn't something that I should be pursuing.

At that point I began to feel some guilt. My life mantra of not doing anything that I would not want to have widely known was not only ignored - but had taken it one level further. I had begun lying.

At that point I knew that I had to cancel the tentative plans. So although I do still believe that he's probably a good guy a heart, the impropriety of the whole thing had begun to gnaw at me. Not to mention the fact that I had no interest in pursuing any kind of relationship that requires even a minimal level of subterfuge.

Is this the most dramatic story in the world? No. It's most likely not even the most interesting post in your reader. But at least it's a story that tells me that my conscience is still clear. I did not go down a road that potentially could make me "the other woman."

And it also tells me that I am not quite so far down the loneliness road that I am willing to settle for any man that offers a bit of flattery and attention. (Even if a part of me is also relieved that I didn't have to go through the nerve-wracking preparation, both aesthetic and mental, of another blind date).

Seriously. Dating? In your 30's? Sucks.

xo

I Love Myself Today...

So my darling Hilly over at Snackie's world tasked her loyal readership with the following post for the 13th or 14th:

1.) Post one of them thar banners on your blog and declare February 14th as the day you not only love your one and only, but the day that you love yourself! (For those of you who need help, all you do is right-click over the image of your choice then click on “save as” and save it wherever you want.)

2.) Post one nice thing about yourself……then ask others to post one thing that they really like about you.

3.) Enjoy yourself!

So, what is the one thing about myself that I'm posting???

Ugh, so many to choose from...what to do?

I could write about how I make an awesome chocolate chip cookie. Or how I have the best gift wrap in town, and love giving people presents specifically so I can wrap them. Or maybe how much self-restraint I have in not flying to Vancouver to stalk Jensen Ackles (yet).

But here's what I'm actually going to choose:

For all my crazy and my moodiness, I never lose the ability to laugh at myself, and realize that other people have it much worse than I do, and really? It's not all about me.

So go ahead people. Show me some love in the comments.
And is it after midnight on Feb 14th? No? Then why don't you pull the banner, and post yourself up some self-love too?

And in honour of V-Day, I give you the immortal Bif Naked..

Mars and Venus II

So this is the sequel to my last post.

As I mentioned, I had a lot of thoughts swirling around my head after Adam and Britt's show last week (btw, new show tonight everyone!)

So I'm done with the man-bashing, and am moving onto friendship (bashing?).

Question # 2:
How close/honest/blunt is too much? When, in a friendship, do we begin to disregard the feelings of others simply because we feel comfortable with them? And is this a privilege or a flaw in relationships?

And in the spirit of leaving Britt and Adam alone, why don't I use an example from my own life for once?

My Dear Anon: she is the easiest person to use for this one. And for the sake of my ridiculously G-rated blog, I'll go with a pretty mild example.

She is, without a doubt, the friend that I am the most blunt and honest with. And it works for us 99.9% of the time. Take her comment in my last post, she's upset that I saw "Push"without her. She called me a "wanker." (As an aside, I've learned that "wanking" means masturbation in England - do you think MDA was calling me a "masturbator?" It seems a bit inappropriate and completely unrelated to the post topic...)

Am I hurt that she called me a name? No.
Am I upset that she's apparently bent out of shape that I went to a movie without her? Nah.

But...if that comment had come from someone else? Maybe I would be both hurt and concerned.
However, it's MDA. I can interrupt her mid-story to tell her that the tale she's in the midst of regaling me with is both boring and I don't care. She can sigh and push the album away halfway thorough my trip to Europe photos because she's not interested in seeing them anymore.

Neither of us are hurt by this. (Though someone might argue that the fact that I remember she did that with my Europe photos 13 years ago might imply that I'm holding a grudge).

However, how much of this is too much? How many stories can I interrupt before she only laughs on the outside at my gall, and starts seething on the inside? Or even worse, gets truly hurt on the inside?

How does one know when to stop with this behaviour? And why should they? If I'm cool with it every time she pushes away my vacation photos - why would she ever stop?

Now one could argue that if you're truly good friends, then you should be able to tell the person that you've become hurt by this, and maybe they could take a hiatus from behaviour x.

But by then the damage has been done. I've already learned that she hates hearing about my holidays. She knows that I don't want to hear about her Zelda escapades. And what's to prevent a person from taking that a bit further in their heads? Maybe it's not just my holidays that MDA doesn't want to hear about. Maybe she hates hearing about my job too. Maybe I should just talking so much period.

So my question is this: yes, it's lovely that when you reach a certain level of friendship with a person that you feel comfortable enough to be brutally honest and harsh- but should we be?

Does it make us lazy as friends? We stop having quite as much consideration for their feelings because they should just know how we mean it. They should just know what's going on in our heads.

Is it OK to be what essentially can only be defined as "rude"?

Why is it OK to do that to the friends that are the closest to us in the world, but not to an acquaintence?

Is this a privilege of close friendship, or is it a flaw?

Discuss.

Mars and Venus Issues...

I was listening to Adam and Britt's radio show the other night, and was reminded again just how much people like to jump all over Adam for his opinions. Now I'll state for the record that I didn't really agree with his stance on things, but for the most part, I make the assumption (rightly or wrongly) that he says a lot of what he does to be shocking. I think he takes the controversial side of an issue, multiplies it by a thousand and uses it for the sake of entertainment.

However what genuinely shocked me was how people were talking to him. He was getting sworn at, being called a dumbass, getting callers telling him how furious they were at him. There didn't seem to be any regard for his thoughts or feelings - there was just righteous indignation.

And he pretty much took it in stride, and even fanned the flames.

That situation right there led me to formulate half a dozen different blog posts in my head. Even now, I'm not sure which one I want to go with.

The options are:

1. The fact that women seem to feel the right to tell off men when they view them as being idiots.
2. The question of how close/honest/blunt is too much? When, in a friendship, do we begin to disregard the feelings of others simply because we feel comfortable with them? And is this a privilege or a flaw in relationships?
3. Would we say things to our blog friends that we wouldn't say to our RL friends, because there's still not the in person, seeing the person's reaction aspect of it?
4. Why do people feel compelled to attack someone for one opinion that is unlike yours when, on the whole, you know what they are like, and respect their intelligence and opinions on most everything else?

OK, so I can't count.
Anyhoo...

I for one, feel so much more freedom to tell off my male friends than I do my girlfriends. But I know that it's because I don't trust, nor value my male friendships nearly as much as my female relationships. I am willing to risk my male friendship, but would not make the same risk with my girlfriends. However, that doesn't mean that telling them off is necessarily right.

I think it's a bad habit that women have - becoming nagging and condescending with men. (Yes, yes, there are exceptions) I see it in so many of my friends when I look as an outsider at their relationships with their boyfriends or husbands.

I don't know if it's because we genuinely feel superior, or that we're fighting back after generations of oppression, or if it's just a bitchiness gene that we all have. But it's so prevalent, and damaging to watch. It's one (of the hundreds) of reasons that I fear getting into a relationship. I saw my Mom treat my Dad that way, and since I was Daddy's little girl, I resented anyone being "mean" to him.

But whether it's the behaviour of the collective female unconscious or not, that doesn't make it right. That doesn't make it OK that I don't treat my male friends as well as my girlfriends. That doesn't make it OK that I heard a bunch of women who claim to be his friends calling Adam a dumbass. It doesn't make it OK that the second I see women get married they become nagging mothering bitches to their husbands.

I think that we can't allow ourselves to get too comfortable in these situations. Yes, it's tiring and hard work to constantly treat people well. We all have bad days, and we all have the right to slip up all the time. But I think the "habit" should be to be civil to one another, and not the exception.

Any thoughts?


* btw, Adam obviously doesn't need or even want me to defend him, it's not the point of this post. And I don't mean to be picking on any of the lovely people who were in the chat room last week- it was just something that I've noticed on more than one occasion, and it got me thinking.

**And clearly I chose option #1 to go with. Next time I'll address #2. I probably won't bother with #3 & 4.

A Weekend in the Life of a Winnipeg Princess

AKA: This is what I did this weekend:

Friday: So I went to this fight that my friend was in. I waver a quite a bit on what's more important in a situation like this- not going to the fight because I am extremely morally opposed to it, or going (like I did) to support my friend and her husband (the fighter). I don't want to be one of those high maintenance people who won't be supportive because of my supposed moral high ground. But I also don't want my friends to think that I secretly like it and just don't want to admit it. I really do disagree with the concept of people beating on each other. I don't understand why a person can't challenge themselves in another way. I would love it if someone could explain to me the appeal of it in a way that I can understand. Cause right now? I just think it's barbaric.

Saturday: Shopping for my blog Valentine. Then a late lunch and a movie. On the review side of things: the movie was "Push" and it was OK. They set it up for the potential for a sequel since they left some things unfinished at the end, and implied that the main characters still had some developing to do with their powers. It was a little bit hard to follow at times, and sometimes a touch predictable. But on the whole I didn't mind it. I liked seeing Dakota Fanning playing someone less kid-like.

Sunday: Administrative Day. I am recruiting volunteers for a couple of events for the Alumni Association, so I sent out a zillion and one emails today. I threw a lovely temper tantrum today too. Slamming things and swearing. (I yelled out the F-word!) As angry as I was, I was a little amused at the time as well. I mean I just don't slam things and swear. It was not terribly satisfying, so I don't really know why people bother. I just needed to sit down, stew for a few minutes and get over it. (I mean the provocation was pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things, so it was pretty easy to get over).

Sunday2: I made turkey enchiladas today! My person was kind enough to show me how to make them last weekend, and they were a fabulous success. It's good to know that there really are super easy, yet impressive meals out there in the world. I thought that was just a rumour. I mean curries are supposed to be easy too, but they're still way more work than these enchiladas were...

And....now it's bedtime.
I hope you all had a lovely weekend my dears!
xo

Ah-Sigh-ee is How You Say It

So there's this thing called Facebook. Maybe you've heard of it? I'll forgive you if you haven't, I really am on the cutting edge of all technology and social media. It's quite revolutionary really. It allows you to connect with people.

I used to have 20 zillion friends on there, from my dentist to people I went to elementary school with to clients from my last job. Then I linked to my twitter on Facebook, and I linked to my blog on Twitter and all sorts of hijinks ensued. And after that? I unposted a lot of my archives here and I unfriended 90% of my Facebook peeps.

If you're my friend on there now, you're either a) related to me b) a blogger that I trust enough to let see my uber unflattering photos or c) someone who is a really good friend and absolutely necessary to my life.

And that intro? Really has nothing to do with the point of this post at all. This post, has to do with a product review. You see in my quest for a thing (and btw, I again plateaued at 23 comments on that post - hilarious) I mentioned that I didn't think Winnipeg had anything cool enough to review. Enter the internet. (And why I mentioned Facebook in the first place) So facebook has this ad for the Acai berry. And suddenly everywhere I go, I keep seeing posters/ad/articles etc for this so-called miracle berry.

So the other day I decided to click on the ad. And it led me to this notatallfake blog by a woman named "Sarah." It seems that "Sarah" had a baby and needed to lose those last few pounds. Enter tha Acai Berry! And there's also the Easy Weightloss Tea! "Sarah" calls them the dynamic duo. (I wonder if she made that up all by herself? Maybe she should patent that phrase - I'm sure it's never been used before)

Anyhow, so I decided that this would be an excellent thing to review. I mean if it worked for "Sarah" wouldn't it work for me too?

So the instructions say that you are to have a cup of tea coupled with the berry pill twice a day. So last night I tried it for the first time while watching Supernatural (mmmm Jensen...). I was surprised. The tea wasn't so bad. It didn't actually seem to have a lot of flavour, since all I could really taste was the honey I had put in it. Thank goodness, because really, the only teas that I like are Red Rose and Almond Sunset. A green tea? Not really my.....uh....cup of tea.

Anyhow, I was pretty cheerful about my experiment until this morning. I brought a bunch of the tea to work with me, and had my second cup before the morning meeting. I didn't have any honey here, but we do have sugar packets. Not. The. Same. Must. Bring. Honey. To. Work.

Green tea? Is vile. Now in the tea's defence, it probably isn't vile in and of itself. I am just uber picky. In fact they even gave differnet recipes on how to prepare the tea (frozen tea pops anyone?) But clearly, this experiment must be run under very strict parameters. And massive dollops of honey? Probably defeats a little bit of the purpose of what the tea is supposed to accomplish. But still, as long as I keep my sugar intake for the rest of the day down to a minimum it should still work out, right? Right?!

So yes. This is kind of a half review. Obviously it will take some time to see if it wields any results worth noting. They send me a month's worth of tea and berry pills. And I also ended up with an additional bottle of berry pills, so I guess I'm taken care of for 2 months. Let's see how it goes.

Has anyone else heard/tried anything about the Acai berry? Is it really that big a deal?

xo

Sparkle and Glamour

So, as I said I intend to actually do all of the suggestions that were given to me below in an attempt to find my thing. (I'm at 22 comments there, so close...)

Today, I'm going to do a feature on one of my favourite blogs. (This feature I will definitely keep doing. Why wouldn't I want to share the joy of some of the blogs that make me happy each day)
This blog is one that absolutely gets read daily. If I have time to read nothing else in a day, I find a few moments for hers.

My darling Glamour Puss from The Pole Affair is the first blogger that I ever exchanged personal information with. She saw that I was lamenting the lack of Shu Uemura mascara here in Winnipeg, and offered to send me some from London. And from there? A love affair was born. (With Glamour Puss, not the mascara. The mascara was actually rather disappointing since it got such rave reviews)

Now "why," you may ask do I love Glamour Puss so? You mean aside from the fact that she included some adorable pink knickers and a Mae West card in with the mascara? Well let me tell you...

Her blog is one of the most honest that I've ever read. She puts it all out there for her readers to see. She will admit when she possibly didn't behave as well as she could have. But she will also acknowledge when she is right and someone else is acting poorly.

And the title of her blog? It's accurate. I have learned more about the art of pole dancing, burlesque, aeriel tissu, and the like in the past couple of years of reading her blog than I ever could have imagined. It's a whole fascinating world that I didn't know existed.

And though her calendar has gotten so busy that she hasn't done this in a while- if you want to know one of her things? It's called "Elegantly Dressed Wednesdays" This feature is a fascinating look at some amazing men and women throughout history who have shown style and class. It's been an educational experience. Often I had never heard of her more "classic" nominees, but by the end of each post, you're definitely convinced that they are well-deserving of the award.

Add to all that a kind of raw sweetness that is both endearing and empowering. She will write about sex and the joys of a good "wank" (a word I had never heard of before that post). And she will write about lingerie and nipple tassels.

Then she will write about her lovely friends, the students she teaches (both on the pole and with books) and her love of macaroons. You never know what kind of post to expect from her from one day to the next. Will it be a glamourous post about a burlesque show she performed in? Will it be a heart-wrenching post about her mother's health or her childhood? Will it be a racy post about her and the Buddhist Hunk?

And she has a lovely vocabulary and a wonderful way with words. It is immediately apparent that she has a brain and isn't afraid to use it. I have more than once had to look things up after reading one of her posts and emails. (Who else here knows what a marabou is? Apparently I sent her one once and didn't even know it. In the Princess's vocabulary - I sent her a "pink fluffy thing")

So everyone? Why don't you stop by at Chez Glamour? I know she'd be a most gracious hostess.

xo

The Princess's Compartments...

Thanks to everyone and their superfun suggestions in my last post. I think I will at least attempt to do all of them once.
And just to clarify, I am not lamenting my so-called lack of comments. I love my little community here, and am pretty certain that if I were one of the uber-bloggers who get 100 comments + per post, I would be totally stressed out by the responsibility of it all.

So, more than one person suggested that I write about sex.
Here goes:
I haven't had any in a couple of months.
The end.

OK. Not so interesting.

So here is the Princess's little confession. When I started my little adventure on the dating sites, and let myself have a profile in the "intimate" section, I started a whole separate blog to re-count those experiences. (In case you're curious, I met one person, twice.)

However, since I didn't have a lot to actually report, I filled in all the other posts with fluff.
I would re-post some of the "chats" I would have with some of my potential suitors. (I actually signed up for MSN specifically for this little experiment).
I posted up some of the photos they sent me (and let me clarify, no one sent me a photo of their face. I felt a little guilt over doing that, but I realize- hey, they just emailed a total stranger photos of their anatomy- c'mon!)
I would write out some very lame erotic fantasy-type stuff (although one guy did suggest I write erotica just after reading my site profile).
I talked about some of the amusing profiles that I had seen, and the ways in which these men would proposition me.

I actually found the whole thing more than a little hilarious, and had a very hard time even taking it even a little bit seriously.

But you know what? You guys who suggested that I write about sex? You're totally right. Sex does in fact sell. The blog has existed for about 3 months. And most days? I just kind of phone it in when I realize I've gone too long without posting anything. But my readership there? Triple what I have here. I have more followers, and way more hits per day. And I get like a zillion personal emails as a result.

One guy even offered to fly me to LA to meet him. (!!??)

And the people? They're actually really nice. It's a totally different community, but I've never seen anyone on those blogs say anything demeaning or unkind to each other. It's probably the reason why I haven't pulled it down since I quit with the online hook-up thing. It's hard to give up that kind of lovely support. Although I suppose I will get around to deleting it sometime soon, I'm finding it a bit more of a hassle than anything.

Now again, let me re-iterate, I am not complaining about my readership here. I just find what I have over there more than a little bit shocking, hilarious, ridiculous amazing. Imgine what I might be able to get if I actually, you know...tried?

I am a completely different person over there. It's such a specific, compartmentalized aspect of my personality. Here you get almost 100% if me. There? Just one topic.

So talking about sex on my lovely Princess blog? This is what you get:
It's been 2 months.
I miss it.

The end.
xo

This Post Barely Warrants One Comment, Let Alone 24

So I read a blog once (not naming names) that explained how they have their reader folders organized. "Must Reads" "B-List" etc and then there was one category that I think we can all relate to: "Really Nice but Boring". As soon as I read that category I realized, crap- if I'm even blessed enough to make it to his google reader, I'm totally in the "nice but dull" folder.

I mean even I consider this place to be kind of meh a lot of the time.

So I've decided that I need a thing. You know how all the cool blogs have some sort of thing? I need one.

Now before you all go rushing to the comment section to give me a pep talk, it's not necessary. I know this little kingdom has it's charm. But it's gotten kind of stagnant around here. I was going through my archives, and I realized that I've plateaued. The most comments I've ever received in a blog is 23.

Now 23 comments is absolutely awesome. But still. It's not like the folder guy above who doesn't bat an eyelash when he gets 100 comments.

So I've been thinking, you know, what should my thing be? I mean Hilly has both Snackie Sunday and her Confession Booth, Glamour Puss has Elegantly Dressed Wednesdays, Spanish Goth has his bible interpretations...what should I do?

Tiara Tuesdays? Uh yeah. I have no idea what that means. I just know that it seems like alliteration was key there.

I tried doing an advice column once. But see the thing is, in order to give advice? People totally need to ask for it. And I guess my special kind of crazy didn't inspire a lot of confidence in people.

I could totally do product reviews. But I'm not sure that anything really unique and cool comes to Winnipeg. And I don't have that many local readers.

I know, my special thing could be begging for comments? Like how it would totally rock my world if I got like 34 comments on this post. Yeah.

And then what do I do tomorrow exactly? Uh huh.

Any suggestions people? I mean when you think: "The Princess Diaries" what comes to mind? (I mean other than either Anne Hathaway, or the fact that I'm a nice girl, but this blog is kind of dull?)

I mean I could do features on blogs that I read, and I totally will. But that's just so....done.
And I could totally go on about my latest depressive crazy. That's super fun. Except for the fact that it's, you know, not.

Must think. I welcome any and all suggestions. Oh and comments. Let's get past that 23 comment slump mmmkay?

To All the Cats I've Loved Before...

You know how there was that email floating around a while back explaining how to find your stripper name by taking the name of your childhood pet as your first name, and the name of the street you grew up on as your last name? So my stripper name would be: Buttons Buchanan. I like it. It has alliteration. And Buttons is a damn adorable name.

I actually had very few pets growing up. I have a vague memory of a fish. And then there was Buttons. I got him when I was six. A cute little black and white kitty. However, I wasn't taking care of him, and one day I came home and was told that my parents took him to a farm. He was my first heartbreak.

Then came Dustin and Sunny 10 years later. My cousin had two cats, but got a job that involved a lot of travelling. So she gave me her cats. Dustin was black and super fluffy. If you patted your chest, he would jump from the ground up into your arms so you could cradle him like a baby.
Sunny was a snobby white cat who could stand to lost a few pounds. My brother would chase her around the house to give her some exercise. (This is funnier to picture when you realize that my brother was 28 at the time).

However, Dustin and Sunny missed my cousin. They started peeing. Everywhere. My Dad finally had enough and one day I came home from school to find that these pets were gone too.

Then my Dad got re-married. I moved in with a cat named Casey at age 18. She had no tail - some sort of accident had happened before I ever met her. Her and I got along great. My stepsisters moved out, and she adopted me. One year my Dad and Stepmom went to Europe and I noticed that Casey didn't smell very good. And she got sick on my parent's bed. I called and told my step-sister's about it.

And again, I came home to a house void of cat. My stepsisters had taken her to the vet and had her put down. (As an amusing aside, they told me to avoid the parents' call ht next day- they didn't want to me to tell them while they were away. But they figured it out when I didn't answer the phone. They got a hold of one of my step sisters and she immediately confessed).

But then my heart shut down for a while. My parents got a new cat. We had a very democratic process for the naming of this new little grey furball. We all got votes and though I preferred "Czarina" my second choice of "Ember" won out. But I simply didn't really care. Ember was very sweet, but I was tired of having my heart broken.

I moved out and decided that was the end of my cat career. Until I realized that I couldn't control the actions of my roommates. My first roommate brought "Puddy" into my life. Puddy clawed my chair and couch.

My next roommate brought in another cat whose name is completely escaping me. But that cat scratched up my chair even more.

Then I agreed to cat-sit for a good friend. Enter Jacques and Jasmine.
They each had very distinct personalities. Jasmine was aloof and not terribly bright.
Jacques? Well he was a demon cat. I'd never actually heard a cat growl before or since. I was concerned that I had made a mistake agreeing to take this project on for the summer. But I realized that I couldn't live in fear in my own home. So I laid down the law with Jacques and eventually won him over.

My friend came back from her trip to Australia and found that she needed a place to stay so I agreed to let her live with me. We go on remarkably well. And the cats? Well they were fine in the beginning. Until they began to break things. Le sigh. And then they peed on this massive pillow I had that was as big as a mattress. You could actually use it as a guest bed for someone. There was no getting that smell out. I called my friend at work. She was welcome to stay, but the cats had to go. Not surprisingly, she went with them.

And that was it. I was done. Cats had clawed my furniture. Peed on pillows. Swatted things off shelves and shattered them and broken my heart more times than I could count.

When I had a roommate last summer, I threatened to throw him out in the street if he dared bring a cat into my condo.

But every once in a while I feel a little twinge. Maybe it would be nice to cuddle up with a little furball at night. Maybe it would conquer the occasional twinges of loneliness. It's not like owning a dog, I wouldn't have to rush home after work everyday with a cat.

Maybe. But not yet. I really don't want to be known as the crazy single cat lady. Yet. I want to wait a few years until I can really appreciate and revel in that title.

xo