Fluffy Lollipops...

Ok, so I couldn't exactly think of a way to tie puppies and lollipops together, that post is still to come. But this post is all about the happy fluffy.

Now I didn't want to just write another post that lists all the happy things is my life right now, cause that's so been done. So I got to thinking, what else could I do?

I rejected the idea of simply posting an alphabetical list of fluffy things. Cause while it might entertain me to do the research, I'm not sure that sense of whimsy would translate well onto the screen. (As an aside, if movies are the "big screen" and TV is the "small screen" what do we call blogs? the "other small screen"??)

So after a great deal (translation: 5 minutes) of thought, I decided to do a photo post. You see I've done some shopping lately, and I want some oohhing and aahing from the masses about my purchases.

So without further ado:

I've decided that I've hit the glorious stage in my life where I can no longer eat...well...whatever I feel like. So bye bye French Fries and burgers. Bye bye cheesecake. Hello 80 -100 calorie bits of chocolatey happiness. In my mind, I can eat one (OK two today...it's not my fault...I just took them out to take the photo and suddenly an Aero stick was in my hand...I don't know how it happened!) a day and still be guilt-free as long as I eat reasonably otherwise.





OK, this is one of the annoyingly adorable pom pom boots. You can't really see the pom poms, but they're totally there. And I have to say, they have kept me superwarm this winter. Now that I'm outside walking a lot more in like -50 degree weather (sorry, I don't know how to convert that into American) they've been a God send. And I think I sorted out why they untie themselves sometimes...something to do with twisting the laces when I tie them.... (and man do I ever need to clean the floor at my front door...this is actually kind of embarassing that I'm the entire internet-verse concrete proof of my crappy housekeeping skills)



Now before anyone gets all "but Princess, Christmas was only a month ago." Some of this was pre-Christmas. And some, like this necklace was from a gift certificate that my Daddy gave me for Christmas. Isn't it pretty?
I don't generally wear gold, and am having a hard time finding this to accessorize with it (because I don't care whether they say you can do it or not, I don't like to wear gold and silver together). I still love it though, and the little gold flowers make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.




Now this purchase has been a long time coming. I keep cleaning out my bottom cupboards (oh wait, I'm supposed to be honest on my own blog right? Let's rephrase: One every year or two I clean out my bottom cupboards...) and I find all the bottles of wine I somehow end up with. I decided to put them on display all pretty-like in the hopes that maybe someone will notice them and you know, drink it. Cause I very rarely drink wine. And if you look at the wine? Cheap and fruity. Look at the bottom right. Should wine be that bright pink shade? Not if you're classy it shouldn't be.

And this? Well I big pink fluffy heart this. Newly purchased just a few hours ago. 1/3 bulletin board, 1/3 photo from, 1/3 tucked in ribbony thingie (don't know what to call that part). This is now freshly hung above my computer desk (yes, I still work with a desktop). And if anyone wants to send me some bloggy photos of themselves, I'll be happy to put them into the photo part and gaze at them adoringly whenever I'm typing up blogs or tweets or whatever...

OK. Fluffy accomplished. And thanks to all of you who've reminded me that it's OK for me to get ranty occasionally. But since 100% ranty blogs are one of my pet peeves, well....

Ranty Ranty...

Of late I've been thinking a lot about feelings - both mine and others'.

I've been thinking that while they are the very essence of what makes us who we are, they're kind of a pain sometimes. I mean, not only do we have to monitor our own on a fairly constant basis, but we also have to be mindful of others'.

It seems inevitable that no matter what we do, there's going to be a time when we hurt someone that we care about. Because regardless of how careful we are, not everyone feels the same way about everything. The world just doesn't work that way.

The other day at work, I had a situation that I felt very strongly one way about, and everyone in the office felt the opposite. Of course the appropriate course of action there was to go with the majority, and since it wasn't something that was going to have long-last effects on anything, I pretty much let it go.

Because that's what we often do in life - just let things go. Because it's so much easier to control our own behaviour (not feelings, I don't think we can help those) than it is to try to control someone else.

But what about those times when you just can't let something go? You see often it seems that there is one person who gives way the majority of the time in any relationship (working, sibling, friendship etc) than others. On the surface it might be that the person who gives way just doesn't feel as strongly as the other person. But that's generally not the case at all. It's often the case that the person who gives way is either a) the bigger person or b) quite avoidant of conflict.

But when that person just can't let something go? Well, then what? You see we often see examples in books/TV/movies of how when that person finally stands their ground on something, there is cheering and fanfare all around them. The person that they are standing up to is so in awe of this change in behaviour that they suddenly understand everything that they've been doing wrong all along and bow down to that person's wishes.

Well that's a load of crap. I have never seen that happen in real life. From personal experience (cause let's remember this is MY blog people, and I'm only writing this from my point of view) it generally tends to backfire. The people that I've stood up to, have made me feel so selfish about it that it just didn't seem worth it.

I know I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. I am constantly monitoring people. How are they feeling? Is this a good time to approach them? I watch their every reaction and censor every word I say to make sure it doesn't go badly.

But even this has it's drawbacks. I've been accused of being condescending when I've spoken calmly and rationally about a situation that I'm upset about. This person was so accustomed to having people fly off the handle (what does that expression mean anyhow?) that he didn't know what to do with my behaviour.

People simply don't react well to being told (no matter in what way) that you've hurt them, and their instinctive reaction is to just get hurt and angry back.

All this sounds like I'm about to start advocating for a "why even bother" attitude doesn't it? And I admit, that's how I feel some days. But on the whole, no. I do think we should bother. I think that we as humans have an obligation to each other. The world can't exist in a strictly ID society. We have to be mindful of others.

So as exhausting as it is, we have to question ourselves, our feelings and think about how what we're about to say and do is going to affect the other person. We have to remind ourselves that they are not mind readers and they may not know what your intentions are behind your words.

And when people do explode? When they do something that is hurtful or out of character? Maybe instead of giving the knee-jerk angry reaction, simply as "why?" Why did they do that? Is there some tiny part of what I did that may be deserved that?

I think we owe it to each other to think more.

Ugh, two ranty posts in a row. I think I'll write about puppies and lollipops next time.

Women are Crazy & Irrational, Men are Clueless and Inconsiderate.

So I was at D2's this weekend. He has a woman who is quite enamoured with him.

She phones relentlessly, stops by his place, goes crazy when she hears he's out with another woman, phones his co-workers and asks about him, and begs him to spend time with her.

I have questioned him about this relentlessly. Is he AT ALL attracted to her? Has he been 100% clear that he is not interested? He insists that no, he is not interested, and yes, he has been very clear.

OK then. So my question is this: What self-respecting woman would carry on chasing after a man who has blocked you from calling his home, has told you he's not interested, has encouraged you to get marriage counselling, and whose closest friends and family are not pleasant to you when you call?

See that's the kind of behaviour that makes us women look bad.

This situation has been going on for months now. And all I could come back to, each time he told me a new story about her antics was: where is the self-respect? Why would anyone want someone who doesn't want them?

I can appreciate the fact that sometimes persistence pays off. And being coy or shy about your feelings can lead to missed opportunities. This goes way beyond "He's Just Not That Into You." This is just stupidity and embarrassing.

I knew a person once who was going on a blind date. She consulted with us girls at work about potential excuses she could use if the date didn't go well. How would she get herself out of there, and what would she tell him the next day? The suggestions that the other girls came up with started getting more and more outlandish.

So I suggested that she just be honest. Let him know that it was lovely meeting him, however she wasn't interested in pursuing anything further, have a good night. (Or something like that).

They all looked at me like I had suddenly turned green and grew a tail, and proceeded to come up with more stupid excuses for her to use.

And it's that kind of game playing that creates some of these stupid stalker situations. People play games so much in the dating world that honesty is neither considered nor recognized. I asked D2 just how clear he was with her. Like 100% clear? He insists that he was, but I know that he is a) a coward when it comes to women and b) reluctant to hurt her feelings.

Fine. Perhaps not everyone has a gift for words. Perhaps when she bursts into tears at her rejection, it seems heartless to let her go and suggest she find someone to console her. However doing anything except being completely honest is not fair either.

Am I justifying her behaviour? Uh no. She's seven shades of crazy and I would dearly love to tell her off. And as I said? She makes the rest of us look bad. She's the reason that I'm so terrified of being perceived as "needy" and never phone men. (But that's a conversation for another time).

However, if I could send her a message, it would be this:

Honey, stand up, shake yourself off and move on. If he's not into you, why not find someone who is? Stop tainting all of woman-kind's reps by perpetuating the whole "women are crazy" rumour.

End rant.

Princess 101

So I've blissfully gained a few readers of late, and have also (coincidentally? I think not.) found some lovely new blogs to follow. I don't know about all of you, but I am far too lazy busy to delve into everyone's archives and read everything they've ever written to really learn the essence of them.

Couple that with the fact that I unposted all my archives this summer, so anyone who is inclined to do so has a problem. So, this little post is going to be all about the basics that make up the Princess (yours truly). And then I'll totally post it on the side of my blog so you all can read it ANY time. I'm just so freakin' fabulous and generous that way.

- I am 33, single and live in Winnipeg, Canada. (Right now, quite possibly the coldest place on God's Green Earth). (But other than that Winnipeg is super fab- you know Winnie the Pooh was named after us??)

- I have a lovely condo to call my own, and really don't play well with others. I had a roommate last summer, and needless to say, I hated it and we are no longer friends. (Not entirely because I let him stay with me rent-free for 3 months, but it certainly didn't help).

- I am NOT a good housekeeper. I'm tidy, but I don't dust/vacuum/wash windows a fraction as often as I should. I could (and possibly already have) name my dust bunnies. Le sigh. OK not really. But I do hate doing it...

- I work in education (not teaching, more administrative) and so far love the job I'm in. I quit my job of 7 years last spring without anything to go to and was 7 weeks between jobs. All in all I think I had a pretty painless bout of unemployment. Now, however, I have to use Dictionary.com at least once a week to look up all the words being thrown at me by PhD's. Unfair. I used to consider myself relatively intelligent.

- I have one brother, two step-sisters, two step-brother-in-laws, a Dad and Step-Mom. (Nieces, nephews, cousins etc etc). I get along well with all the steps, and was thrilled at the age of 18 to finally get sisters. I lived with my brother who is 12 years older than me up until then, and wanted someone to talk girly with. Although, to be fair, my brother can do girly with the best of them - he appreciates candles and chocolate even more than I do.

- My Mom died when I was 11, and that fact I think makes up a lot of who I am today.

- My obsessions: Jensen Ackles, Jane Austen, Lost, Great Big Sea, chocolate and mascara.
(Not necessarily in that order)

- I could stand to lose a few pounds, but I have pretty good hair, and a sparkling intellect (um, unless I'm at work- if so, change "sparkling intellect" to "lightening fast on a keyboard when looking up word definitions on the internet"). :P

- I have a few BFF's that I will write about on here since they're such a big part of my life: My person, My Dear Anon, and K.

- I don't have a boyfriend and My Dear Anon thinks I get all pitiful about that too often. I think I just miss sex. (Cause ya know, I really really do)

- I bake. If you invite me for dinner, I will generally offer to make dessert since cooking seems like too much pressure to me. Although, odds are I'll end up doing some sort of "experimental" baking, so results vary.

- I drive a 2003 silver Mazda Protege. I don't know how many cylinders. I don't know if it has anti-lock brakes. I (like Bella Swan) don't speak Car and Driver. So don't ask.

- I also don't know what brand my TV/VCR/Computer/stereo is. Seriously. Who cares about that crap? Does it work? Yes. Ok, I'm happy.

- I check my blog stats regularly. I find them fascinating. I mean how cool is it that someone in Buenos Ares found my because they want to know about Jensen Ackles and spanking?? (Um, not that I would know anything about that...)

Was this interesting at all? Quite possibly not. Quite possibly it just looks like I wanted to write a whole post about myself.
To those people who think the latter, I say: Well duh.

Let me know if I missed anything. If I get enough, maybe I'll compile them into a whole new post called Princess 201! (I just got wayyy too excited there, so maybe not)

Kisses!

Inane Phone and Text Conversations...

The Scene:
9:30 PM Tuesday night
Princess is cuddled up in bed, PJ’s on, with a trashy Nora Roberts novel that her Dear Anon insisted she just HAD to read.

Text message annoying sound

Princess: (in head) Where the #$#&%@!^ is my cell phone?! That thing’s gonna keep beeping until I acknowledge it. How do I turn off that @#@#%&*^ feature?

Text from My Dear Anon: We need to c a movie this weekend
In Princess’s Head: Bossy!
Text from Princess: I’m free on Friday
P's head: Because I have no life apparently
Text: MDA: Cool r u good to c a 3d movie
Text: P: What movie?

Phone rings

P: I’m in bed!
MDA: I didn’t want to type it out

P’s head: why not? I’m the one incapable of abbreviating anything. I so need to learn txt speak!

P: So??
MDA: My Bloody Valentine
P: 3d horror. Cool.
P: So what's it about?
MDA: I don't know
P: Who’s in it?
MDA: No one.
MDA: No wait! I mean Dean Morgan is in it!
P’s head: really?! He’s so dreamy! Wait a minute
P: No he’s not.
MDA: I’m totally gonna tell you that everytime I want to convince you to see a movie now.

Imaginary scenario in theatre:

P: When do I get to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan?

P’s head: He’s so dreamy. I love Denny. I mean until he started have ghosty sex all the time. Wtf is up with that? Why does he want Izzy anyways? He should love ME. Oh wait. Imaginary characters. Nevermind.

MDA: Well…he only has a cameo in this movie. If you blink you might miss him.

*pause*

MDA: There! Did you see him?! Oh. He’s gone.
P: Where? Where?

P’s head: I’m totally telling her that Jet Li is in the next girly chick movie that I want to drag her to. That’ll show her. (FYI- she luuurrrves Jet Li. Don't know why we're friends really)

So, even though I know absolutely nothing about this movie, and My Dear Anon had NO info either, apparently we're going to see it. Cause it's horror. And 3D.

We're cool that way.
xo