Bad Blogger

I know. I'm the worst blogger ever. It's just so much stuff has been happened I kind of let this blog fall by the wayside.
I started my job at the casino. It's a very easy job but I like the people I work with and on slow nights I spend most of time talking with them or reading or writing my zombie novel.

Rick and I got married! The wedding was in March in Las Vegas and our families all came. It was amazing. We had so much fun and it wasn't stressful at all because the wedding chapel planners did everything. Our minister seemed really nice and he was...it's just that he was completely different during the ceremony. All of sudden he had this crazy evangelist preacher southern accent. And before and after the accent was gone. So I had to concentrate really hard on Rick and sort of tune him out so I didn't collapse into giggles.

My youngest sister got married a few months later in Jamaica. We had so much fun there! I can't wait to go back. Jamaica is beautiful and it was a great wedding even though it started pouring rain as soon as the ceremony started. We were all drenched but it was very memorable and we had a great time.

I also got very sick a few months ago with bronchitis. And so I decided to quit smoking which has been extremely difficult. Rick quit with me and I couldn't have done it without his support. For a little while there I really felt like I was losing my mind. I didn't realize how strong this addiction can be. I'm sure I was very difficult to live with too. Poor Rick :( There were lots of times he just held me and tried to make me laugh while I ranted and raved about how life was just not worth living without a cigarette. How jealous I was of people who were still "allowed" to smoke. It gets a little easier every day but I still have alarming relapses in my thoughts sometimes. If they aren't around I won't want to smoke them but otherwise...it's something I will have to be vigilant about for the rest of my life. I have to keep telling myself it's worth it. I want a long and happy life with Rick. I like being able to breathe and exercise without coughing up a lung. I LOVE the way food tastes now. And I don't smell anymore! Those are real tangible advantages.

I'm trying to write a book now. I've always wanted to write books. It's the only "career" I could see myself doing when I was young and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I've been an avid reader my whole life and there is nothing I love more than a good book. I'd love to write good books that people would get lost in. About a month ago, I thought how fun it would be to write a book about my favorite scary subject. Zombies! There is nothing that scares me more (in a good way) than a good zombie book or movie. So I've been working out outlines and characters and actually starting to put my story together which is really fun and exciting. Even if it never gets published it is still a joy to be writing it.

Bridget the Cat is doing well. We moved to an apartment that allows cats and dogs so we don't have to hide her anymore. She loves to hang out on the balcony and watch the hummingbirds. She also likes to escape onto the roof. And once she jumped down onto the ground and spent hours hiding in hedges and I was in tears and Rick was so tired of searching for her. We went home and I was just hoping she would come home and she did five minutes later. I heard her meowing at the door to be let in. She knows where we live and comes home when she damn well pleases. I'm still not comfortable with letting her wander wherever she wants. I know she can take care of herself. It's just there are a lot of things out there which can hurt her.

So that's my update. I'm sorry it's been so long. I'll try not to let another half year go by. :(

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season! Christmas was great here. Santa was good to all of us. He even brought presents for Bridget. It was a gloomy, rainy day and we just stayed in and snuggled up. I've been away from my family before on Christmas. It's just not possible to always get together when we all live in different places. I've come to terms with that. However, it was the first Christmas when all my siblings were separated. All four of us were in a different places so that was a bit strange. Last Christmas, I could phone my mother and hear all my siblings in the background having a great time. I talked to all of them but it was still a little sad. I think we all missed eachother.
Tomorrow, I start a new job! It's at a resort and casino and I'm working in room service. It was a very long hiring process as I had to get a gaming license even though my position has nothing to do with gaming. It involved an extensive background check and lots of paperwork and the whole process took about a month but everything cleared and I start tomorrow. I'm a little jittery and nervous about it. I always am when I'm going into a new place. I think that's normal. I just hope I can sleep tonight!
I haven't been able to be on SL for any extended period of time lately but I did pop on a few times to pick up some of the great freebies my favorite designers were giving out. It was great!
I don't seem to have much to say tonight. My mind is too full with all the things I'm supposed to memorize from my new employee handbook. I keep running over the company motto and the mission statement.
I want to let my friend Joonie know that everything is fine with me since I know she worries about me when I'm not blogging or on SL as much as usual. I'm sorry I've been so distant. My New Year's resolution is to write in this blog at least once a week! It's good for me to write here and I love the blogger community.
I wish you all the best New Year! I hope it brings blessings to everyone.

Another Winter Picture

Alicia's Winter Picture Challenge!

I'm not a very good photographer. I still don't know how to play around with Windlight although I have tried. But I like dressing up and taking pictures and thought Alicia's challenge sounded fun. So I dressed up warm and put on my skates and went to this beautiful sim I found called Midsomer Meadows. I don't know how to put in SLURL's either but if you go into search and put in Midsomer meadows you will find it. There is a winter wonderland there!

Astrid is also a much better skater than I am.

Making snow angels!

And lastly, my favorite kind of winter. In the hot tub in my beach tree house! With my bright pink Christmas tree!

A Treehouse

Rick and I rent a beautiful little piece of land in the Estate of Mind sim. It's a quiet neighborhood and the people who live there have created a beautiful neighborhood. We've had it about a year now and recently I thought I'd like a change. We had a simple house before and it was nicely decorated but I have a thing for treehouses and thought I'd like a change. So we went shopping last night and found a great one!

I spent a long time rearranging things and placing my furniture and here it is! Astrid and Frey's beach treehouse!

A romantic picnic spot on the beach.

A campfire and swing

The first level of the treehouse.




The only enclosed room in the treehouse



And the top level with a little hot tub!

I love my new SL home! Come and visit sometime! IM Astrid Foulon for the Landmark!

Updates

Wow! A lot of things have been happening. I haven't blogged in so long. First of all, Bridget's spaying went very well. She had to wear a lampshade collar for ten days and she hated that. I just took it off her a few days ago and she was so happy. She spent a whole hour cleaning herself and running all over the place. About a week after the surgery I noticed a strawberry sized lump under the incision. We took her to the vet and she had an infection. It didn't seem to bother her but it't important not to ignore these things. So she is taking Amoxicillin now for a week. Twice a day I squirt the medicine into her mouth with a syringe. It smells like bananas. I think she likes it. The bump is going away.

Now all this Bridget stuff happened a week before we were supposed to move to Utah. It was very stressful. We weren't sleeping and everything was packed so we were eating off paper plates or just getting fast food. Rick had some health problems and we went to the doctor. All this stress started making us think. And we started talking about things we had just pushed to the back of our minds because we didn't want to think about the disadvantages of what were thinking of doing. There were a lot of things to think about, risking all our money on a business venture that may not work out. And since the business is on park land, it may be hard to sell should we ever want to sell it. The current owners are having trouble selling it because of the bad economy. We also didn't have a place to live. We could stay in the cabin during the off-season but we'd have to buy a house trailer eventually.

And it's not like we hate it here. I love living here. The traffic gets to me sometimes but we have everything we need here and we love our place. We decided not to do it. In some ways, it was sad to let go of the dream but in other ways it's a relief. I just want us to be together no matter where we are. So we've given up on this dream for now. But I have lots of dreams and they are coming true every day. Rick and Bridget are both doing really well now and I'm so happy about that.

Yesterday I bought a wedding dress! It was a lot of fun, trying on all these fancy princess gowns. I felt like I was in SL! The second gown I tried on was "the one." As soon as I put it on I couldn't stop smiling. It felt perfectly right for me and I've never felt so beautiful. So I bought it and put it in my hall closet which we never use. It's in a garment bag, but even so I want it kept far away from kitty claws. I also bought some beautiful shoes! I'm posting a picture of them here. The dress pictures will have to wait until after the wedding because of all that superstitious stuff. I don't believe in it but my mother would be upset if Rick happened to see the pictures before the wedding so out of respect for her feelings I'll go along with all the hoopla. But the shoes don't count! Do they? I don't know anything about this wedding stuff. haha.

Cat scratch fever!

The last few days have been a bit difficult. Bridget has been acting strange. Yowling and crying at all hours of the night so we don't get any sleep. She has just been acting very agitated and I thought she might be sick but she is eating fine. Then I did some research and found out that she is at the right age for her first heat. Poor Bridget! I wish there was some kitty Midol I could give her.

So we made an appointment to get her fixed on Monday. I know it's a routine, standard procedure and most likely she will be fine. But I am very worried and I wish we didn't have to do it. But I think it's a good idea. Cats can go into heat very frequently and it will help her to calm down a bit. I just hope it goes well. Please pray for Bridget on Monday or send good thoughts her way!

Only a few more days!

Rick and I are counting down the days now. Almost everything is packed and ready to go. We spend our time watching movies and playing with Bridget and talking about how excited we are to go to Kodachrome. We've also set up a website/blog! It's kbcabins.com and the link is on my list. Go check it out! Right now we're just killing time waiting to go. Waiting to get started. It's very exciting but why is it that the quicker you want time to pass the slower it goes? And vice versa!
I'm enjoying the California warmth while I still can. It will be a cold winter in Utah. But not as cold or long as the winters I'm used to in Canada. It might even be kind of fun to see some snow again! From the window of a cozy cabin. With a mug of hot chocolate!

Food meme. Yummy!

I saw this on Alicia and Dyami's blogs and I love food so I thought this would be fun! I excercise every day because it gives me energy and helps me maintain a healthy weight. But I'm not a dieter. I believe it's good for me to enjoy anything I want in moderation. Otherwise I feel deprived and resentful and that's not fun. I'd rather enjoy my food than be a size zero!
So on to my favorites!

Breakfast: Anything from IHOP. Especially the Rooty Tooty Fresh n' Fruity. Or the new fruit crepes they are advertising now. Thin fluffy crepes filled with a sweet cream cheese and fruit filling. I celebrated my successful driving test with one of those! If I'd failed I would have had one of those to cheer myself up!

Pizza: I like thin crust pizza with olives, tomatoes and feta cheese. Poor Rick likes pepperoni and mushrooms or bacon so we don't usually share an order. We both love a nice Sangiovese red wine with our pizza. Yummy!

Ice cream: I can't choose. I love all ice cream except for bubblegum flavored. I love hot fudge sundaes. I love Coldstone most of all!

Caffeinated beverage: I love flavored coffee but I can only drink it in the afternoon or evening because it upsets my stomach in the morning. So I don't end up drinking a lot of caffeine beverages because they'll keep me awake at night.

Vegetable: Asparagus and certain types of squash. At Christmas my Grandmother made this turnip dish with maple syrup, brown sugar and apples. It was like a dessert. But I'm not sure that counts as I'm not a big fan of turnip if it isn't drenched in apples, maple syrup and brown sugar.

Fruit: Granny Smith apples and peaches.

Dessert: How do I love dessert? Let me count the ways. I love chocolate cake with thick gooey icing. I love creme brulee. I love ice cream cake, cheesecake. You name it, I love it. My newest favorite dessert is something called a "Mormon Scone" I don't like scones as I've known them. They are dry tasteless tea biscuit type things. But on a recent trip to Utah I had the mormon version of a scone which is a yummy, fried, doughnut type thing with sugar or cinnamon. It's amazing. And so fattening. I could feel them settle right on my thighs. And it was worth it!!!

Fast food chain: Being from Canada, I have to say Americans know how to do fast-food! There is so much more available here!!! And I have to go with Alicia here and say Sonic is my favorite. I love their drinks and burgers and wraps and their cheddar poppers and how you can get breakfast any time of the day.

Store bought soda or beer: I like Coke Zero. It tastes better to me than diet coke. I'm not a big beer drinker at all but I've been known to enjoy a Corona with lime.

Type of cuisine: Mexican, Italian, would sushi be considered Japanese cuisine? Because I love sushi.

Wow. That was fun. I'm really hungry now too. Time for dinner!

Seven Ultra Lounge

What a night in SL! I've been hearing a lot about this new club "Seven Ultra Lounge." It's supposed to be very exclusive and fancy and you have to pay to get a membership. I thought it would be fun to buy one of their land passes so I could check it out. But I didn't want to go alone. So I asked my dear friend Joonie if she would go with me. So a ravishing redhead and a beautiful blonde got all dressed up and set out in the night to rub shoulders with the beautiful people.

It was so much fun! I really liked the place. I wasn't so sure about the music as it isn't really my personal taste but I will say that the genre of music they were playing certainly suited the ambience of the place. And they had a great dance floor with lots of fun animations. Joonie and I had a blast with those. My speakers weren't working so I attached some outside ones and wasn't that impressed so I turned them off. I was having too much fun to need music anyway.

I might buy a month's membership just for fun. It was fun to dress up and swish around. Joonie recognized a few famous avatars. One of whom was drinking himself into a stupor. Clearly fame isn't everything as Joonie said! hehe

It was hard to take pictures with all the neon lighting. But I got a good one of us dancing. For some reason, Joonie's hair wouldn't show up when I took pictures of us at the bar so I took a picture of us from behind the bar where the glare wasn't so bad. And because I have a shoe fetish I had to take a picture of our gorgeous shoes.

I had a great time. I would definitely go back. But I think the main reason I had so much fun is because I was with my friend. Thanks Joonie! We have to do it again sometime! I've missed you :)

September is awesome!

I took my second driving test today and I ......PASSED!!!!! I am so relieved and so happy. I don't know what I would have done if I failed it again. We are moving to Utah soon and the closest DMV is very far away from where we will be living so I really wanted to have my license before we moved. I didn't hit the curb this time thank goodness. The poor kid who went before me went over the median and popped a tire. But everything went smoothly and I'm a licensed driver now and it's amazing how much more fun driving is when I don't have a test looming over me.

I also recently came back from my sister's wedding in Canada. It was so much fun and so good to be with my family again. Rachel looked beautiful and it was such a good reception. Everyone was relaxed and happy. Even with my divorced parents and aunts and uncles and the various new spouses. Everyone was considerate of Rachel's special day and put all their tension aside. The family dynamics can be hard sometimes but I was proud of them all for being gracious and mature and kind to one another. It was actually the first time in years that I saw my father and mother in the same room. And it was nice that they were civil to eachother. Even friendly. I'm so glad it was good for Rachel because I know she was worried about it.

And Rick and I are officially engaged!!! He surprised me one night and I said yes. And I'm happier than I ever imagined I could be. I never thought about marrying someone until I met Rick. It just feels right and natural and wonderful.

Just a pic of my family after the ceremony. My mom was the minister and I'm on the left. And an adorable picture of Bridget that Rick took. She's such a camera star!

What was I thinking??

I just love the look on this girl's face as she surveys the hot mess that is me.

A vision in blue latex and tie-dye!

I really love SL fashion blogs. Especially ones that poke fun of SL fashion tastes. I was looking through my inventory at some of the first outfits and hair styles that my confused noobie self thought were simply ravishing in the good old days.

I thought to myself how much fun it would be to actually make it into one of those fashion mistake blogs. So I hauled out my blue latex catsuit and gorgeous blinging color change shoes and headed off to Armidi! I also found an old outfit appropriately titled "Tie-Dye Nightmare." The name alone should have been a clue.

I don't think I was spotted by any of the fashion police :( But it was fun to totter around in my sexy shoes and swish my stiff horror of a hairdo around!

Some pictures

Zion National Park
Bridget the travelling cat
A very phallic rock in Kodachrome Basin State Park
Beautiful!
Rick and I

New adventures and Hedwig

I've been away for quite a while. We went camping in Southern Utah and went exploring. It was a great trip and it's led to the discovery of a new adventure we are going to be embarking on. There is a business for sale in Utah. A camp store, guest cabins and stables in a state park. We're thinking of buying it and moving there. I can't believe we might be living in such a beautiful place. I'm also excited about being my own boss and learning how to run a business. I've been wondering what kind of job I'd like to do and I was getting a bit discouraged. Now this has kind of fallen in front of us and it's perfect. I can't wait. I hope we can do it. I'll have to learn about horses though because we would be doing trail rides. That will be a huge adventure in itself! I also saw a great movie called "Hedwig and the angry inch." It's about a transsexual rock star from East Berlin and I just loved it. I loved the music and the singing and the characters. I would highly recommend it. Here are the lyrics to my favorite song from the movie "The Origin of Love" and the video from Youtube if I can figure out how to put it on here!


When the earth was still flat,
And the clouds made of fire,
And mountains stretched up to the sky,
Sometimes higher,

Folks roamed the earth Like big rolling kegs.
They had two sets of arms. They had two sets of legs.
They had two faces peering
Out of one giant head
So they could watch all around them
As they talked; while they read
And they never knew nothing of love.
It was before the origin of love.
The origin of love

And there were three sexes then,
One that looked like two men
Glued up back to back,
Called the children of the sun.
And similar in shape and girth
Were the children of the earth.
They looked like two girls
Rolled up in one.
And the children of the moon
Were like a fork shoved on a spoon.
They were part sun, part earth
Part daughter, part son.
The origin of love

Now the gods grew quite scared
Of our strength and defiance
And Thor said,"I'm gonna kill them all With my hammer,
Like I killed the giants."
And Zeus said, "No,You better let me
Use my lightening, like scissors,
Like I cut the legs off the whales
And dinosaurs into lizards."
Then he grabbed up some bolts
And he let out a laugh,
Said, "I'll split them right down the middle
Gonna cut them right up in half."
And then storm clouds gathered above
Into great balls of fire
And then fire shot down
From the sky in bolts
Like shining bladesOf a knife.
And it ripped
Right through the flesh
Of the children of the sun
And the moon
And the earth.
And some Indian god
Sewed the wound up into a hole,
Pulled it round to our belly
To remind us of the price we pay.
And Osiris and the gods of the Nile
Gathered up a big storm
To blow a hurricane,
To scatter us away,
In a flood of wind and rain,
And a sea of tidal waves,
To wash us all away,
And if we don't behave
They'll cut us down again
And we'll be hopping round on one foot
And looking through one eye.

Last time I saw you
We had just split in two.
You were looking at me.
I was looking at you.
You had a way so familiar,
But I could not recognize,
Cause you had blood on your face;I had blood in my eyes.
But I could swear by your expression
That the pain down in your soul
Was the same as the one down in mine.
That's the pain,
Cuts a straight line Down through the heart;
We called it love.
So we wrapped our arms around each other,
Trying to shove ourselves back together.
We were making love,
Making love.
It was a cold dark evening,
Such a long time ago,
When by the mighty hand of Jove,
It was the sad story
How we became
Lonely two-legged creatures,
It's the story of
The origin of love
That's the origin of love

One more!! haha

More fashion fun with Astrid

I've been playing around with Astrid and shopping. Oh I love shopping in SL. I tried to wait for the Lucky chair at Crimson Shadow to get the beautiful blue dress I saw on Alicia's blog but I couldn't wait and a friend of Rick's ended up just giving me the lindens to go get it. haha. Thank you Tommy!! I love it!

Channelling Martha Stewart!

My little sister is getting married in early September and I am a bridesmaid! I live so far away that I was feeling a little bit sad that I couldn't really be there for her to help with the planning. I can't even be there for the shower. I did get to go to her dress fitting when we were in Canada last week and she looks gorgeous! She was telling me that she was having trouble deciding on what to do about favors for the people at the reception. This wedding is on a pretty tight budget and she was worried she wouldn't be able to afford anything nice. Then the light bulb went on in my head! SOAP! So I told her I would do all the favors for her and she was so happy! So the past few days I've been making 120 little heart and rose shaped soaps with a honey almond and apple raspberry scent. I've been wrapping them in ivory tulle and tying them up with ribbon. I feel like Martha Stewart or something!
It feels good to know I'm helping her out in some small way and she has one less thing to stress over. Although she is a very good bride- to- be. Not at all a bridezilla. She's only had three months to plan the wedding so she tells me she doesn't have a lot of time to stress over details because everything has to be decided so quickly. It's going to be a very interesting wedding. She's walking up the aisle to a string quartet playing "Smashing Pumpkins" and the reception is in a barn out in the woods. My mom is a little bit horrified. But I think the wedding will be just like my sister. Laid-back and unpretentious and lots of fun.
Bridget the cat is doing well. She is finally flea free and is putting on some healthy weight. She's into EVERYTHING. I'll find her in cupboards or up on top of book cases. And she wakes us up promptly at 5 am every morning. It's a little bit exhausting but we love her :)

Bridget

We have Bridget with us again! Last night we picked her up from Rick's daughter's house. She looks so healthy and she's put on weight. She's also got a lot more energy. She wants to play ALL the time. I slept ok last night but she woke us up very early.
I'm not sure what we will do with her. We aren't supposed to have pets here but we feel kind of responsible for her now. Do we just bring her to a shelter and hope for the best? We've given her a good start. It's just hard. What if she doesn't get adopted? Or what if irresponsible people adopt her? We are involved now! Unfortunately, she still has fleas. Not as many as before but enough to be a nuisance. We'll need to take her for a flea bath and a vet visit. I can't stand them. They are so creepy and ugly. I found one on my arm this morning. She doesn't seem bothered by them but I sure am! :)
She's sitting on a chair right now staring intently at my pet fish and my toad. She's such a magnificent hunter!

I'm Back!

The trip to Canada was a great success. Nothing bad happened. The flights were easy, the luggage was not lost, no car accidents or injuries. It was very interesting to be back in my hometowns again. Everything looked lush and green. Southern Ontario in the summer is like that. And very humid. I've become accustomed to the the dry California air so it was a bit of a shock. Like breathing in wet cotton. But it was so good to see my family again. And I loved having Rick with me. It was the first time he met my father and my sister and brother. My mother came to visit us a few months ago with my other sister but the rest of the family had never met him before. It kind of brought my "two worlds" together at last.
My mother is recovering well from her surgery even though she had a bad relapse just before we arrived. She's feeling better day by day and I was glad I could see her and know she will be ok. She put us to work doing all the things she can't manage right now. She's a bit of a taskmaster actually. Even when she isn't sick! But that's my mom and I love her.
Even though we had a great trip, I was so glad to get home and be in our own place and our own bed again. I think we are a bit tired from all the running around. And I'm glad to be back online and catching up on all my favorite blogs!